You Found Me
by KatO93
Summary: The turtles save a warrior princess from the planet Kennistar when the Foot attack her. Over time she has these nightmares that can lead her and her new friends into danger. What does the Shredder want from her? And will he have help from two dark allies? This all takes place in the 2003 universe. Sorry, I'm bad at summaries, but the story is better than this. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Finally I get my first story going. I am so excited to see how this goes so I really appreciate any feedback (advice) that I can use to help me improve. So I'm a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I had this story with me for several years now, so that's why I am so pleased to be presenting this now. For the record, I do NOT own TMNT, only my OC's. With that said, let's get started:)!**

Character Introduction

Name: Verena Ishtar

Age: 19

Race: Kennistarian

Physical Appearance: White fair skin, dark brown eyes(glow in the dark to white), black curly long hair, pink rosy lips, scars on her back, stomach, and chest area; her people are very close to being human

Personality: Kind, sweet, graceful, intelligent, honorable, strong, courageous, stubborn, and musical

Abilities: A highly skilled martial artist, can control all elements of her world what they call a Yin Warrior (water, earth, air, fire, lightning, metal, and light magic), gifted in psychic abilities

Weapon(s): Timaeus the Peacekeeper (a legendary sword that only Verena can carry; tall, white, shining blade with a sun and crescent moon-shaped guard

Loves: Singing, dancing, reading, meditating, flying in open spaces, training (both physical and magical), making others happy even when she isn't

Background: Verena is a princess from the peaceful planet of Kennistar. She is the young daughter of Alistair Ishtar (King), Aurora Ishtar (Queen), and little sister to Liza Ishtar (Princess and Queen in waiting). At the age of five she began learning from famous scholars and teachers throughout her planet and the galaxy, but when she turned seven, she began training in martial arts and her magical abilities. Even at a young age she had started training throughout the universe from well-known masters, however, most of her training came from her grandfather, Riordin Ishtar. Since then she has helped maintain peace being a Yin Warrior, who are said to be Warriors of the Gods, but still faces a great threat from the dark benders (who use pure Black Magic to defeat their foes) and their leaders: Nathias and Nanuke. Now Verena will soon face a threat so evil that will put all she has learned her whole life to the ultimate test and puts her destiny on the line.

**I hope you all liked this introduction to my character, although to me it sounded better in my head. Well either way, I would really love some reviews on this so far and I'll have more chapters up soon, but with school going on right now we'll have to wait and see. Thanks everyone!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello hello hello! I hope you all liked my character introduction, but now let's get the story started shall we? Again, I do NOT own TMNT only my OC's. Enjoy :)**

Chapter 1: Crash Landing

Verena's P.O.V.:

"Archimedes, what is the status on engines 1 and 3?" I asked my commander as calmly as I could, trying not to panic.

"Engine 1's backup generator just went on and Engine 3 is barley holding up, Your Majesty." He replied back. "But I am not sure how much longer they can hold."

You would think that this simple travel to Earth would be easy sailing, right? Well apparently I was dead wrong. I was to be escorted to Earth by the Kennistar Space Force; everything was going so well until around five hours after we left home, we were attacked by Dark Bender space fighters. Since then, the brave warriors and crew members have done their best to avoid more damage to the vessel, but from what I have just heard we will lose two engines in a matter of minutes.

"Akiba," I called to my mechanical engineer, "how is the ray shield?"

"Not to good, Your Majesty." he said in a worried tone. "The shield is at sixty percent and is increasing at a rapid pace."

I was beginning to grow really terrified, not for my well-being, but to those that came with me. Their lives meant more to me than my own; I can't just sit here and let this go on any longer, we needed to do something fast.

"How much time do we have until the shield overheats Akiba?" I asked, still trying to be calm.

He didn't answer me. I was suspecting that he did not want to tell me.

"Akiba?" I put my hands on his shoulders so he can face me. "Akiba, please, how much time?" I asked him again.

He ran a quick scan on the hologram screen in front of us. "Given the strength of the blaster shots coming from those fighters, I estimate that the shield will go down in less than five minutes."

Just as I was about to say something Archimedes contacted me from his fighter, "Your Majesty, the pilots can't take much more damage. I've already contacted the fleet and they will be here in ten minutes."

"We don't have that much time and the fleet won't make it!" I yelled out, but soon pulled it together.

"What do we do now?" Archimedes asked.

"_I will __**not**__ take this beating while other people's lives are at stake_." I thought angrily to myself. "_I have to do something_…" then I knew what I had to do. "Archimedes, can the fighters still use the hyper jump?"

"Yes Your Majesty," he said, but gave me a confused look, "but why?"

"Take the fighters and use it to get back to Kennistar." I said.

"Wait! What?" he was still confused.

"Akiba!"

"Yes Your Majesty."

"How many escape pods are here?"

He checked the vessel's hangar records, "About thirty and I estimate at least six people can fit into one."

"Good it's enough to get everyone out of here." I was relieved, but we had to move fast for my people's sake. Finally gaining back my confidence back, "Alright as I said before, Archimedes, lead the fighters back here to collect the escape pods. Akiba, help me get the crew into them so they can hyper jump with the fighters together. Once everyone leaves, head back to Kennistar and warn the fleet."

"But Your Majesty what about you?" Archimedes asked me.

"I will stay behind to steer the vessel to Earth," I told him, "besides I still have my business there."

"What if you don't make it? What if you get…" Archimedes was getting really upset and I knew that I couldn't let him think like that.

"I will be fine Archimedes, but our people need you and Akiba to get them home." I soon realized that everyone was looking at me. "Listen to me, all of you. You must leave this vessel, and get home. My only concern right now is all of your lives, your well-beings; you have families back home that need you more than I do here. Believe me when I say this to you all, have courage and hope for I know that I will see you all again. My brothers and sisters, it has been an honor serving beside you…but you must go now." I gave them my last order as their commanding officer, their friend, their sister, and their princess.

Everyone was silent and they all had sad looks on their faces, but at last they moved and begun to evacuate. Akiba was able to get them all into the escape pods while Archimedes and the fighters were still trying to keep the Dark Benders at bay. With only two minutes left, I had to get them all going, but Akiba was facing me from an open pod.

"Akiba, you must go." I said to him, keeping myself calm.

"I know, but before I.." he stopped, trying to fight back his tears. I put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. He soon smiled back, "we go and I say this from each and every one of us here, we were honored to serve for you, Princess Verena." Akiba then pulled me into his arms for a hug as I did the same in return. "Be safe and may the Gods watch over you." he said to me as he separated from me with his hands on my shoulders.

"May the Gods watch you all, always." I said to him and the others, but I soon felt tears stream down my face, bearing the thoughts of what could happen to them. "_No. I can't think like that_. _Stay strong_." I kept telling myself that for a moment until I came back to reality. "Get inside and take off." I ordered to Akiba.

He nodded, "Yes Your Majesty."

I used my wrist link to reach Archimedes, "Commander, once all pods are with you, make the jump."

He smiled, "Understood…" he then gave me a frowning look, "and good luck to you my friend."

Once I disconnected all communications on my wrist link, I saw the last pod leave the hangar. When I finally saw the pods link up with the fighters, they used the hyper jump and they were soon out of sight. Now the Dark Benders will have no choice but to come after me. I soon found myself running back to the control center of the vessel and the scanners showed the ray shield at ninety-five percent. The good news was that Earth wasn't that far away as I saw the blue planet get bigger, so I got on the controls and started to steer the vessel, trying to get there as soon as possible. With those deadly Dark Benders still shooting away, I activated the ion cannons and they began to charge, praying that it would slow them down enough to cease fire. As I kept on trying to dodge most of the blaster shots, the shield began to drop, leaving the entire vessel defenseless and an engine was soon blasted to pieces making it harder for me to steer.

"Oh that is just lovely." I said looking over the damage on the screen. "Alright Verena think, what will get them to stop?"

I then remembered the ion cannons that were still charging up, and then I had an idea. If I cannot shake them off, then I'll blow this vessel to scrap pieces. With a bit of timing and luck on my side, I reconverted the ion cannons energy to return to the vessel's power core, causing the whole thing to overload and self-destruct.

"Now to make it to Earth." I said while I ran to my quarters. I went in to get my communicator and my photograph album and left the room. "Okay let's go." I said to myself, running towards the emergency exit.

I finally got there, with my gear strapped onto me and ready to fly down. It was a good thing that Kennistarian's can withstand atmospheric pressure in space or I would be in serious trouble. Having a few minutes left to go, I hit the emergency button causing everything in the hangar to open and soon I was out in space trying to gain control with myself to fly. Finally gaining myself together, I flew as far away as I could and then the vessel exploded sending waves from the blast that caused the Dark Bender fighter ships to fall back.

"_Thank the Gods_." I thought to myself with a big smile on my face.

Making my way down to Earth, one of the pieces from the vessel hit me on my back and head, causing me to lose control and flip my body around like crazy. I was starting to panic. I couldn't see the direction that I was heading for. All I felt was the heat tingling my body as I went down faster into the planet.

"La Shien, please guide me." I prayed to my God as I grew closer.

A few seconds later, I felt myself crashing and sliding hard on what felt like dirt, soon stopping as my head hit something hard and rough. I groaned in pain as I struggled to move. My body felt like it have been hit with a ton of Krytanium weights that I use for my training. A moment later I opened my eyes, seeing that it was dark out, and was surrounded by a bunch of trees and there was also a pond across to my left.

"Made it." I sighed with relief. "But where am I?"

With my curiosity getting the better of me I found my strength to get up from the rubble that I made. My body was so sore, covered with dirt and cuts all over me. As I kept on walking, I saw what looked like buildings across the way. A few minutes later I was out of the area and looked at the many people walking the streets, going in and out of buildings or just strolling their along with other people. I looked at the vehicles that this grand city had and I noticed a yellow and black automobile that had a name on its side doors and on top of it.

"New York City." I read it out loud and smiled, "I made it."

**Well what do you think of the first chapter? I hope I introduced her well enough to your liking, but I would love to hear what you feel about it, and don't worry the Turtles will be in the next chapter. Until next time :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello hello hello! I hope you all liked my first chapter, now it's time to get into some action. I do NOT own TMNT, only my OC's. Enjoy:)!**

Chapter 2: Four Saviors

Verena's P.O.V.:

New York City was a grand sight to see. All the bright lights, the tall buildings that reached to the sky and all the noises that came in many directions. I cannot believe how alive this place is. It almost reminds me of the capitol in my world with its many wonders and sites, but back home our buildings are taller and we have different planet races in it. However, with every city there is always a dark cloud that covers it; people would commit crimes for their own selfish desires no matter who or what gets in their way, that's a fact, and I know that I have to be extra cautious when I'm here. I looked down at my body, seeing my armor all dirty and ripped like it went through a paper shredder; my face and hair also made me look gross.

"I should probably go clean myself off." I said to myself.

I then remembered the pond that I was next to when I crashed and decided to go there to wash myself. The walk back didn't take me too long thankfully. Once putting myself at the edge of the pond, I used my water-bending to clean my armor, hair, and face from the dirt and grass still on me. Then I used the same water with some healing magic to clean my cuts so they wouldn't get infected. Checking that no one else was around, I changed out of my armor and put on my usual dress that was a white long-sleeved top with a black corset and a sky blue skirt; I then put my armor in an electric storage that was on my wrist link where my other clothes were. Seeing that I'm still alone, I decided to fly to one of the roofs so I can find who I've been looking for. With a city like New York, so big and vast, how do you find just one person? I remember my grandfather telling me that his friend sticks to the shadows and doesn't like to be seen; he also told me that his friend isn't an average Earther. Either way it didn't matter to me what he looked like, I never like to judge people based on physical appearance alone, but I had heard that he is a great martial artist and a good and honorable person, that was the part that I want to see and I couldn't wait to meet him. Grandfather also told me that his friend had sons; I do not remember exactly how many he has but I thought about them too.

"I wonder what they are like." I said to myself out loud as I was jumping from one building to another. "_How old are they? Do they do martial arts? What do they look like? What do they like to do?_" I kept thinking of all kinds of questions as I kept going.

Two Hours Later…

I search through a lot of the city and I still haven't found anything. No clues, no tracks to follow; it was almost impossible, but I know I can't give up yet and it won't be morning until another several hours. But then, a thought came into mind, what if these people that I've been looking for aren't human? It could be possible, couldn't it? I heard footsteps coming closer to my direction, but I couldn't really see where they were coming from. These figures soon surrounded me and they had a red symbol on their chests; all of them soon pulled out their weapons on me and I got into a fighting stance. All of a sudden, the ninja's lowered their weapons and a big, muscular, blonde- haired man came out with a smirk planted on his face. This cannot be good.

"Usually first meetings lead to a proper introduction." I said to him.

"As you wish then." he said with a low voice, still with the same facial expression. "We are the Foot, but you can call me Hun."

I raised an eyebrow, still confused by all of this. "What is it that you want from me?" I questioned him,

"A chance to speak with you, Princess Verena..."

I pulled out my sword, Timaeus, before I let him finish, "How do you know who I am?!" I shouted at him.

The ninja's soon had their weapons raised, ready to attack, but this guy put an arm out, causing the others to put them down. I looked at him with an angry look, but at the same time I was still confused with what they wanted with me.

"Like I was saying," he continued, still calm. "We are the Foot, we serve under our master, Aroku Saki, the one, true Shredder. I can guarantee you this, girly, if you don't cooperate with us, then we will go rough on you, but if you choose to come with us, then you will serve under the Foot and your life will be spared. The choice is yours; either the easy way or the hard way, take your pick."

Was this guy serious? I don't know what this "Shredder" wanted with me, but I am not going to let these punks take me. Not without a fight anyway.

"Sorry to inform you, uh, Hun, was it? But I am not willing to side with someone as black-hearted as you all are. So tell your master this, my answer is No." I said to him, showing no fear to any of them.

He gave me a sour look, "You just made a very bad mistake, you little brat." He put his arm up, and the ninja's had their weapons raised again now in a fighting stance. "But if you won't come with us, then we'll just take you."

I tightened my grip on Timaeus, looking at these creeps with a serious look on my face. "If you want me, come and get me."

A moment later, Hun shot his arm down and all the ninjas charged at me. I used my psychic powers to push them back; many of them fell flat on their backs, except for Hun. He charged at me with a fist in the air; I put Timaeus back in its hilt and back flipped, kicking him in the jaw and causing him to fall to his knees. A ninja came to my right, wielding a katana blade in his hands, as he began to strike at me, I grabbed one of his arms, pressed a pressure point, and he fell down. Another ninja used his staff to grab a hold of me from behind; I struggled for a bit, but then hurled a rock at his face using my earth-bending, making him loose his grip on his weapon, and I took it and whacked him on the head and swooped his legs and he fell on his back. A third ninja then charged at me and pinned me to a storage shack on the roof, I kneed him in the gut, right-hooked him in the face, and side-kicked him to the ground. I saw Hun get up and pull out a sword that he was carrying on his side, so I pulled out Timaeus to face him. I motion my hand to make him come at me, and then he charged with his sword raised as I did the same; once close enough our swords collided and so our fight began. I blocked every one of his strikes as he tried to stab me or at least tried to take my head off, but the ninjas soon joined in and now I had to block all their attacks. Not getting anywhere I back flipped to a cement chimney and used my air-bending to blow the smog in front of them so they couldn't see; with them completely blinded, I struck them all down with Timaeus, making them groan in pain. Then out of nowhere I was hit in the back of the head with something hard and I fell to the ground. I looked up to see Hun standing over me with a wicked smile on his face; he then lifted me up from the ground and he threw me back to the chimney. I moaned in pain and struggled to get up, but Hun stomped my back a few times, striking the spot where I originally got hit by one of the vessel's pieces that made me scream in agony. After that he dug his foot into the same spot, making me scream again. He stopped and walked away to grab his sword as I pulled Timaeus to me and put it in his hilt so I can get up. Several ninjas soon lifted me up and pinned me on the chimney so I couldn't get myself free; there was nothing that I could do as Hun came back to me, sword in in hand.

I struggled to see, but I lifted my head to look at him, "You…. monster…" I said with heavy breaths and trying to get free as he came closer.

He chuckled and he held my chin in his hand. "You put up a good fight, but no one can save you now." Hun let go of my chin and lifted his sword to my head, "Nice knowing you." Ready to strike, something knocked him down on his back; he lifted his head in confusion, "What the…"

I saw these figures beat my captors to the ground, and I fell hitting the back of my head. I groaned in pain, rubbing my head a couple of times, and tried to see what was going on, but my vision was blurry; all I could see were four dark figures standing near Hun with their weapons ready to go.

"How many times are you freaks going to get in our way?!" Hun yelled out.

"Didn't yo mama tell ya that it's not nice to hit a lady?" I heard one of them say, with a thick accent.

"Yeah, not cool dude." Another one said, with a surfer-like accent.

One of them looked at me, "What is it that you want with her?" he asked, his voice was smooth and gentle.

"That's for the Shredder to decide. Not that you freaks would care about that brat." Hun said to them.

"We may not know what the Shredder is planning, but we will stop you." I heard the fourth one say, with a strong voice. He looked at me, and then back at Hun, "You want her? You have to go through us."

I blacked out for a moment as I heard grunting and metal clashing together; when I opened my eyes the four figures were beating Hun down with their fists, but soon the other ninjas were attacking them. They were able to fight most of them off, until one of them was kicked in the chest area and fell my way, facing me. I looked at this one in front of me, he wore a purple bandanna across his eyes, but a couple of ninjas were soon coming up on him from behind.

"B-Behind you." I said with a heavy breath to him.

Luckily he blocked their attacks and knocked them out and soon joined the others. All the ninjas were taken care of, except Hun. The four of them soon kicked him together, tossing him off the building and crashed into something made of glass and metal, I think. It was silent as I tried to drag myself forward, but didn't get that far as everything started to turn black. Those four that saved my life ran to me, I'm guessing to see if I was alright. Everything soon became black as my eyes closed, and my breathing became heavier than before, and all I did was hear their voices.

"She's hurt pretty bad. If she doesn't get any medical attention soon, then I don't think she will make it."

"Those Foot goons took a real beatin' outta her."

"Dudes, what do we do? We can't leave her here."

"Whaddya think 'Fearless Leader'?"

"We'll take her with us. Now let's go before more ninjas start coming."

One Hour Later…

Leo's P.O.V.:

When we got back to the Lair, I held the girl that we saved in my arms while Donny went to get her bandages and aspirin, Mikey and Raph went to tell Master Splinter what had happened on our patrol. After they told him, sensei said to let her rest until she wakes up; everyone has been doing their own thing since then, but I stayed in the living room, sitting on an arm chair as she slept on the couch. I checked with Donny to see if she had any major injuries, and he said that she had a brooze on her back that swelled up, but other than that she was fine. I don't know what it is about this girl, but I was intrigued by her; it was like an angel had fallen from Heaven and we saved her.

"_What does the Shredder want with you_?" I thought the question to myself. I knelt down beside her, "Uh.. hi. I don't know if you can hear me, but I want you to know that you're safe. To be honest with you, I may not know who you are or where you are from, but me and my family will protect you from the Shredder. That's a promise." I touched her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, "I promise." I said to her in a whisper.

A moment later I heard light moaning coming from her as she moved her head from side-to-side, and I took my hand off hers as she continued on the couch. Her eyes soon opened; she looked around and then she looked straight at me. I didn't know how she would act looking at me as I prepared for her to freak out, then she gave me a small smile. I never really expected that from anyone let alone a beautiful girl like her, but I snapped out of it as I saw her try to sit up.

"It's okay. You're safe." I said to her gently.

"Where….where am I?" she asked me with a soft tone.

I was about to answer her until I heard my brothers coming from behind me and soon stood in front of her by my side. She looked at them with her eyes growing bigger, but she kept herself calm enough to not freak out.

"Well look who finally woke up." Raph said to her, being nice.

"Hi." Mikey said to her with a big smile on his face, waving at her.

"How are you feeling?" Donny asked as he carried a glass of water to her.

"Fine thank you." She answered with sweetness in her voice. "E-Excuse me, but could I sit up?" she asked us.

"Yeah, hold on. I'll help you." I told her as I got up and carefully sat her up on the couch. "Is that better?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yes. Much better."

"Here," Donny handed her the glass of water, "you must be thirsty."

She smiled and took the glass, "Thank you." She took a couple of sips and held the glass in her hands, then she looked at us again. "Forgive me. I-I do mean to stare." She told us.

"You don't owe us any apology." I said to her with a smile.

She looked at me with a small smile, but it soon disappeared. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

I took a deep breath and answered, "I'm Leonardo and these are my brothers," I motioned to them, "Raphael," with the red bandanna and sais, "Donatello," with the purple bandanna and bo staff, "and Michelangelo." with the orange bandanna and nunchakus.

She looks at us for a moment and smiled. "Verena."

"Excuse me?" I asked her.

"My name is Verena Ishtar and it's a pleasure to meet you all." She told us still keeping her smile.

"Likewise, Verena." I said to her, with a lot of questions in my mind to ask her.

**Well that took longer than expected. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and please read and review and there will be more to come soon. Until next time :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello hello hello! Here is the next chapter, I hope I'm not making them too long, but if I am please let me know. Anyway, I do Not own TMNT, only my OC's. Enjoy:)**

Chapter 3: New Friends

Verena's P.O.V.:

I would never have expected to be rescued by four ninja turtles, but yet here they are; right in front of me. These guys looked very strong, but yet their personalities are very different from one another. The way that they all were with each other reminded me of my relationship with my older sister, Liza, how we would talk to each other and joke around, it hit home in my heart. I was making small talk with the guys because I wasn't sure what to ask them. They told to not use their full names and to call them by their nicknames that they gave each other, Leo, Raph, Donny, Mikey. I liked talking to them, they were so entertaining with what they said to each other, and they made me laugh. Mikey soon made everyone something to eat, and thank the Gods too because I was starving; he brought us all a pizza and it was so good that I ate two more slices. We were all content with our stomach's full and we continued talking.

"Hey, can I ask you some questions dudette?" Mikey asked me.

"I guess so." I told him.

"So….where are you from? What do you do for fun? What's your family like? Do you have any siblings? What do you do for a …. Ow!" He stopped after Raph hit him in the back of the head.

"Geez are ya tryin' to make her head explode?" Raph said to him.

"What? I was just asking." Mikey said with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that. Mikey tends to do that when we meet someone new, which isn't that often." Donny explained to me his younger brother's behavior. Which by the way was very understandable since they weren't the norms on Earth.

I wanted to say something, but I was interrupted when I saw someone coming; this person was a little bit shorter than the turtles, but had hair, a lot of hair all over his body, wearing what looked like a robe, holding a walking stick. As this person came closer I could see more of him clearly, and he was… a rat! By the Gods, this was incredible; one of the most amazing things that I've ever seen. The elder looked at the guys, then straight at me with a serious look on his face.

"So you are the young woman that my sons told me about." he said to me with a wise voice, it reminded me of the way that Grandfather speaks.

I nodded to him, then I remembered what else he said in shock, "Wait a minute. These four are your sons?"

He smiled at me. "Yes and I am their master, Hamato Splinter.

When I heard his name, I gasped. "You're Hamato Splinter?"

He nodded, but looked a little confused. "Yes, but how is it that you…"

I pulled out the royal seal of my planet for him to see. "You know my grandfather, Riordin Ishtar." I said as I gave him the seal, and he looked at me closely. "I am one of his granddaughter's, Verena."

There was silence as he looked at the seal again; his sons were staring at him as well as I was. Moments passed as I wondered if he believed my words, and the guys looked confused enough already as it is; their father then looked at me again, only this time his eyes were gentle and he smiled.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Ishtar. I have been expecting you for a while now." He finally said to me and his sons were surprised.

I was overjoyed and smiled at him. "Yes I know, but when you live a few galaxies away it gets harder to come. However, I am honored to finally meet you Master Splinter; my grandfather has told me great things about you."

"And I am honored to teach you, Your Majesty." Master Splinter bowed to me the way that me and my people did, with our right hand open, fingers together, and our left fist imbedded in the palm.

I bowed to him in return showing my gratitude. When I looked up, the guys stared at me with a shocked look, their mouths opened almost looking like their jaws were ready to fall to the floor, and their eyes wide open about ready to pop out of their sockets. I blushed a little and rubbed the back of my head a little, not knowing what to say to them.

Master Splinter looked at them and cleared his throat, "I believe my sons have some questions for you, don't you?"

They all snapped out of it. "Yes." All four of them answered in unison.

I chuckled softly. "It certainly looks like it."

"Yeah like who are ya?" Raph asked me upset and confused.

"Raph. Be nice to her." Leo told him with a serious look in his eyes. I can sense it. He looked at me, "Can you…."

"Tell you all about myself?" I finished his question, he looked stunned. I took a deep, relaxing breath and continued, "Very well. Let's see where do I begin, um, I'm not from Earth first of all, but from a distant planet far away called Kennistar…."

Twenty Minutes Later…

I had finished my story to everyone about five minutes ago, and since then it's been nothing but silent. They just stood there in front of me, taking in everything they just heard. Personally I don't blame them, I would be puzzled too if I was told this, but I wanted to know what they were thinking. I mean I can use my psychic powers, but I'd rather hear it for myself.

"So….. you're an alien?" Mikey asked me, breaking the silence.

I looked up at him. "In a way yes."

"And you're a warrior princess?" Donny asked.

"Yes."

"And you have magical powers?" Raph asked.

"Yes."

"And you said that you crashed down here after you and your people were attacked by these Dark Benders?" Leo asked.

I was about to answer him, but I began to think about my people, Archimedes, Akiba, all of them, wondering if they made it. I snapped out of it and answered, "Yes." I sighed and rubbed my forehead, and after a moment I looked at all of them, "What I can't figure out was why those 'Foot Ninja' attacked me?" I thought about it since I've been here with these guys and I know they were thinking of it as well.

"Until we learn more about what the Shredder is planning, I insist that you keep yourself here." Master Splinter said to me.

I knew he was right. "I understand, but I- I just can't." I said to him.

"Verena..."

"No I will not just sit here and cower, but I know if I'm out there I will be hunted down, and that is why I have to. I do not fear them and I will keep myself hidden; please, Master Splinter, I give you my word."

He took a moment to think, and he answered. "Very well, but my sons will be with you for your protection."

I looked at him and his sons and nodded, "Of course."

"Good. While I am training you, you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you wish." He said smiling at me.

I smiled back bowing my head, "Thank you all so much." I lifted my head back up and they all smiled. "Well now that that's out of the way, may I ask you all a question?"

They nodded.

"How did you all come to be who you are?" I asked.

"This is your story, Father." Donny said to Master Splinter.

They all sat down as Master Splinter told the story. It began with a boy carrying four pet infant turtles in a glass jar; as an old blind man was crossing the street a truck was coming and wouldn't stop. A boy ran to him, but caused the other boy to drop the jar and it broke; the old man was saved, but the truck spinned out of control and a canister came out. The turtles went into the sewer and the canister broke and the ooze from inside covered their bodies. The rat took pity on them and took them to his burrow; the next day they all doubled in size due to the ooze, and it made the rat more intelligent. The four turtles would follow the rat everywhere except above ground; the four were soon speaking and their intelligence came after. Seeing that the world was sometimes a dangerous place, the rat had taught the four Ninjutsu, the sacred art of stealth and power, and all that he knew. From a battered book on Renaissance art that he fished out of the storm drain, he chose names for each of them; Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

"Amazing." It was all I can say.

"Yeah, I guess it is, huh?" Mikey said as he sat down next to me on the couch.

"First rule, ignore Mikey. Your life will be a whole lot easier." Raph said when he sat next to me.

"Hey."

I chuckled, trying not to laugh. "Oh, come on, he's not that bad."

"See. She likes me." Mikey said with a big smile.

Master Splinter cleared his throat. "My sons, help our guest get settled in and tomorrow we'll clear the storage for her. I will retire for the rest of the evening. Goodnight." He said as he left us.

"Goodnight, sensei." The guys said together.

"Well I'll go get my room set up." Leo said.

"For what?" Raph asked

"For Verena." He said looking at me.

"Oh no, Leo, you do not have to. I-I can sleep in here." I insisted, not wanting him to give up his room.

"I don't mind and besides you'll sleep a lot better on a bed then on a couch." He said as he stood up, keeping his eyes on me.

"_I am so not going to win_." I thought to myself. In the end, I gave up. "Fine."

"Cool, and while Leo's doing that I'll give you a little tour." Mikey got up and said.

"That sounds good to me." I said getting up from the couch.

We walked around their entire home and it was incredible. Mikey showed me the dojo, Donny's lab, the kitchen, bathroom, the storage room, and the living room. Then he took me up to the second level and showed me their rooms; it went around in a circle, and we stopped in front of Leo's room. Sensing that no one was inside, I went in to take a look. His room was very clean and organized; his bed had baby blue sheets and was made neatly. He had different kinds of swords hanging on the wall and posters of great Japanese warriors as well. His desk had books alphabetized on history, Buddhism, Bushido, and poetry along with pens and pencils in a cup. It was very nice, and then something caught my eye; he had an electric keyboard in a corner of his room. I stood in front of it, softly touching the keys, and I played a soft song. I stopped a few minutes later with the room silent and Mikey staring.

"That sounded good." I turned as I saw Leo standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

I gasped, "Leo I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to…" I tried to explain.

"It's alright Verena, really." He chuckled walking towards me.

"Oh... I… um…" I didn't know what to say to him. I felt my cheeks getting warm when Leo stood in front of me, smiling.

I heard Mikey yawning. "Well I'm hittin' the sack. Night guys."

"Night Mikey." Leo said.

"Goodnight." I said.

With Mikey gone, Leo and I were alone. I'm not sure what it is, but Leo's eyes were a beautiful brown, I couldn't stop looking at them. I shook my head, coming back to reality as he fixed the bed.

"I brought you more blankets in case you get cold." He said

I smiled. "Thank you Leo." I looked at the corner of the room, "So you play the piano?"

"Yes. I find it relaxing whenever I play it."

"I feel the same way, even with singing." I told him.

He looked at me, "You're a singer?"

I nodded. "It's been a passion of mine."

"I see." He said still looking at me.

We stood for a moment, but it felt like forever. Leo was more disciplined than his brothers and he was full of kindness. His face was strong yet gentle and his eyes were still facing mine deeply, they were so focused, I have never seen such eyes. He turned to get one of the blankets that he left on the desk and faced me again.

"I'll see you in the morning." Leo said as he left the room, but stopped to face me with a smile. "Goodnight, Verena." Then he left.

I smiled as I sat on the bed, alone. "Goodnight, Leo."

**Is it me or was this too long? If it is I will do my best to be less detailed. Well I hope you liked it and I'll do my best to post more up in shorter time, but with college right now I barley have time to do these. Until next time**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello hello hello! I finally found the time to do this chapter and I hope you all are liking it so far, but if I'm doing something wrong, please feel free to message me. Anyway like before, I do NOT own TMNT. Here we go:)**

Chapter 4: First Day

Verena's P.O.V.:

"_Where am I?" I looked around and saw nothing. "Hello? Is there anyone here?" No answer. The last thing I remembered I was with the guys in their home. "Guys? Master Splinter? Anybody?"_

"_Verena…" I heard a voice calling me._

_I turned to see who it was. "Hello?"_

_A bright light soon flashed in front of me, turning everything white. When it stopped, I saw my home, my world, up in flames and the people lying dead. This cannot be happening. How? When? WHY?! And where is my family?_

"_Verena…" The voice called again._

_I was transported to the palace where everything was in pieces. The guards were all dead on the floor, pools of blood covering their bodies. This is horrible. But where is my family? The throne room doors were opened and I ran inside. I looked all around but saw nothing, until a bloody arm lifted up from behind my father's throne._

"_Verena…" It was my father calling me the whole time._

_I ran to him, but he disappeared, "Father!"_

_A dark cloud soon surrounded the room and had bright red eyes as it howled in laughter. With its form, it pulled out three heads of my father, mother, and sister; I gasped in horror, not believing my eyes. By the Gods, this cannot be real. It can't be. The figure had a wicked smile._

"_You have failed your people and your family, Verena, and because of you, you will never see them again." He said to me and laughed._

_I shut my eyes tight. "No, please. NO!"_

My eyes shot open and I sat up, in the bed, sweat falling from my face. I could feel my heart racing as I tried to relax, taking deep breaths. I looked around and saw that I was still in Leo's room. My heart soon slowed down and I sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the back of my head and feeling the sweat cool my body off.

I sighed. "It was just a nightmare."

I got up from the bed to stretch out, then I heard voices coming from below. Everyone must be up already, so I changed into a black tank top, with a dark green sweater, dark jeans, and brown boots that way I'll look more decent. After I used the bathroom, fixed my hair and makeup, I made Leo's bed and headed out. I levitated myself down using my telekinesis and something smelled so good; I followed the scent into the kitchen and I saw everyone eating their breakfast. They all looked at me.

"Good morning, my dear." Master Splinter said to me smiling.

I nodded and smiled. "Good morning, Master Splinter." I looked at the guys. "Good morning boys."

"Mornin'." They all said.

"How did you sleep?" Leo asked.

"Pretty good." I told him and smiled. "By the way, thank you for letting me sleep in your room last night, Leo."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

"Hey, hope you're hungry, dudette." Mikey said with the same smile on his face.

"I am actually."

"Here, Verena, take a seat." Donny said as he pulled out a chair for me.

I walked over and sat down. "Thank you Donny."

"Would you like some tea?"

"Yes please." I smelled the food and it made my mouth water. "Mikey your food smells wonderful."

"Yeah say what you want 'bout him, but Mikey sure knows how ta cook." Raph said taking a bite of his food.

"It's a ninja thing." Mikey said and shrugged his shoulders. A moment later he brought me a plate. "Here you go."

"Thank you Mikey." I looked down at the plate that had pancakes on one side, then eggs and bacon on the other. I started to eat my food, after my first bite my mouth was dancing. "This is delicious."

He sat down with his plate. "You really like it?"

I swallowed my food. "Of course I do. You truly have a gift Mikey." I smiled at him.

"Thanks, dudette."

After breakfast, Master Splinter had wanted to do the guys morning training, then mine right after theirs. I asked him if I can watch, seeing that I had nothing else to do, and he said yes. Watching the guys train was quite a sight to see as they done the moves that Master Splinter showed them over and over again. Their skills were incredible, quick, and of course strong. I was very impressed with how well Master Splinter has taught them over the years that he has had them. It reminded me of my family a little because both of my parents, my sister, and my grandfather are warriors; in a way, we are a warrior family just like my friends are one. Their training took two hours and finally ended, by the looks on their faces they were exhausted, and I do not blame them. Once Master Splinter had finished his lecture for the, the guys got up and bowed to him; he then looked at me.

"Come, Verena. It is your turn."

I got up and hit my wrist link that changed my clothes to my armor in a flash. I bowed to him. "I am ready, Master Splinter."

"Excellent. Now let us begin." He said turning his back to me.

"Master Splinter." I heard Leo call to his father, making him turn around. "Can we stay and watch?" He asked.

He looked to me. "It is your choice, Verena."

I looked at them, then back to Master Splinter. "I do not mind, sensei."

"As you wish." He turned back and grabbed a table with four items on it: a glass of water, a jar of dirt, a lit candle, and a bag.

Leo's P.O.V.:

I wasn't sure what sensei would have Verena do for her training until I saw the four items on the table and realized that he's going to test her abilities. But why? Verena can control all the elements in her world, but Master Splinter must have a reason for it. She was in a fighting position until sensei put his hand up, making her confused.

"Verena, remove your sword." He told her.

It took a moment until she stood straight up and nodded. "As you wish sensei." She removed her sword and placed it on the ground. "Sorry, Timeaus."

Timeaus? Is that what she called her sword? I looked at my brothers who were just as confused as I was, but next thing we knew Verena was in the same fighting position again. Her body language was calm and focused on what sensei will have her do, and I wanted to know just as badly as she does. He stood from his spot, and we fell silent.

"Today, Verena, I will be testing you on your bending of these four elements: water, earth, fire, and air. Show me what you have learned, child.

She nodded, and didn't say anything.

Master Splinter started by throwing the water at her, but she was able to catch it using her water-bending. The way that Verena had moved with it was unbelievable as if it were a dance. I noticed the dirt flying in her direction, and she saw it too using her earth-bending with the water; using two bending powers seemed impossible, but Verena made it look easy. Sensei then threw the lit candle and opened the bag, letting a strong wind come out of it. Verena immediately saw them and took the flame from the candle while using her legs to control the wind; she looked graceful while moving the elements and it made her more beautiful. Her movements looked mostly like Tai Chi, but maybe she used her own martial arts. I saw her face, and her eyes went from normal to shining white; when that happened the movement became faster than before. Was this part of her power? A second later, Verena's arms were out in front of her as the elements returned to the table; her eyes were shut and opened to being normal, brown eyes. She stood straight, facing Master Splinter to hear what he has to say. We were all anxious to hear his response, especially Verena. He walked over to her and smiled as he bowed.

"Your bending is most impressive, Verena. Not only are your skills excellent, but by focusing on what you felt more than your thoughts were you able to do the task at hand." He said.

She smiled and bowed. "Thank you, sensei." She looked at us, then at the clock. "To think that only took me an hour."

"It's been that long?" Donny said and the rest of them couldn't believe it either.

"Those were some nice moves ya got." Raph said.

"Yeah that was awesome." Mikey said.

"Thanks guys."

"Verena." Master Splinter called to her and she turned to him. "Your next training session will be before my sons this evening."

"Yes sensei." She told him cheerfully and they bowed to each other. "Excuse me." She turned and left.

I wanted to talk to her, but was stopped by Donny. "Hey Leo, was Verena amazing or what?"

I looked back and she was gone. "Yeah, she is." I smiled.

8:00 p.m.

We all ended our training early tonight. My brothers were going to watch a movie, Master Splinter was asleep, and Verena was in her new room; I went to check on her to see if she was alright. I got to the door and all of a sudden my heart began to race and my body started to get hot; I was nervous. My family looks up to me to protect them and yet here I am feeling like this for a girl, and not just any girl but a princess. Something inside told me to try and open up to her, to let her see me for who I am. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. I saw it open and Verena was right there wearing a white nightgown and robe.

"Hi." She greeted me cheerfully with a smile.

I snapped out of it. "Hi, Verena. What are you doing?" Great! Now I feel like an idiot.

"I just finished organizing my room, so I was reading on the bed." She said.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you."

"You don't have to apologize, Leo. I've been in here by myself and it's good to have some company." She put a hand on my shoulder, "Please, come in."

I walked into her room and it was neat and clean. She had white blankets and a light purple confronter on her bed; I looked at her books and she had them on history, poetry, Shakespeare, Tai Chi, bending spells, and Kennistar mythology. There were white lights that she hung around the entire room that gave it a relaxing feel to it.

"Well? What do you think?" She asked me.

"It's very nice, I like it." I smiled at her.

"Thank you guys for doing this for me."

"It's our pleasure."

"No, I really, truly mean it, Leo. You all accepted me into your home after what I've been through and…" She took a deep breath, "I thank you so much." She smiled sweetly.

I was still smiling. "You're welcome…" I took a deep breath and put my hand on her shoulder, "and no matter what, we will always be here for you. I promise." I meant every word of it.

She still smiled and out of nowhere, wrapped her arms around my neck in a hug. "Thank you, Leo." She whispered softly to me.

I soon wrapped my arms around her into a hug. Verena's skin was soft like silk and I could smell the sweetness in her hair that made me feel relaxed. She lifted her head and looked up at me as I starred into her eyes; with the lights on, they made her eyes shine like stars. I could loose myself in those eyes. I let go, seeing that it was getting a little awkward as she began to blush a little bit and I did too.

I then remembered what I wanted to ask her. "Do you want to watch a movie with us?"

She thought for a moment. "Alright. What are you watching?"

"I think Act of Valor." I told her as we were walking to the living room.

"Sounds interesting." She said and we finally made it.

"Hey guys." Donny greeted us.

"Ya made it just in time, the movie's 'bout to start." Raph said.

"Come on guys." Mikey said as he played the movie.

The rest of the night we watched the movie and I sat next to Verena the whole time. I think she liked it, but I couldn't tell. Once it was over we all went to bed; I walked Verena back to her room. As I told her goodnight, she hugged me again and I hugged her back while she said goodnight, and left to her room. I put my hand on my plastron, feeling my heart beating faster than before. I never felt this way about anyone and for once I was terrified.

**I hope you all like it so far and I'll try to post more up sometime this week, but we'll see. Please read and review. Until next time :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello hello hello! Time for this next chapter, and like I said before I do not own TMNT, just my OC's. Let's get down to it:)**

Chapter 5: The Sparring Match

Verena's P.O.V.:

"Not… again." I sighed as I sat up in bed.

I have been having the same nightmare for over a week now and each night it gets worse. When I first had it, I thought it was just a bad dream, but now that it's recurring, it must mean something. But what? I was use of controlling my nightmares all the time, and now I can't even stand them. My heart seems to beat faster each night and my anxiety increases with each one, making me sweat more and talk in my sleep. I do not want to tell the guys or I will make them worried the whole time, but maybe Master Splinter will know what to do. No, I can't tell him, I can't tell anyone about this, not until I find out more. I looked at the clock and it read 5:30 am, seeing that I won't be able to go back to sleep, I got up, used the bathroom, fixed my hair and face, and wore my usual dress down.

From the nightmare earlier, I got really thirsty, so I went into the kitchen to get something to drink. As soon as I walked in I heard somebody coming and just stood there like a statue. Finally that someone happened to be Leo walking in. Since I have been here in their home, the guys were very nice to me, especially Leo, and yet it was rather comforting; I enjoyed his company and we had small conversations here and there, but somehow I wanted to get to know him more. I know with these nightmares going on I try not to show my discomfort to any of them. He took a look at me after he yawned and smiled.

"Hey." He said in a good tone.

"Good morning." I told him and took a drink of my water.

Leo grabs a cup from the cupboard. "You're up pretty early."

"As are you." I took a sip of water. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"No, I'm usually up at this time." He said filling his cup with water and starting the tea.

"Really. Why is that?" I asked.

"Just used to it I guess."

"Oh." It was all I can say.

I sat down at the table, just staring at my glass. So many things were running through my mind, so many questions that needed to be answered. For once in my life I didn't know what to do, and now I know that I'm scared, and I shouldn't be, but I am. I didn't notice Leo sitting across from me until I felt him staring at me with his eyes. I have to drop it, for now.

"Are you alright?" He started to ask.

"_Here we go."_ I thought to myself. "Yes… everything is fine." I lied and I think he could sense it.

He looked at me all concerned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Leo. I'm fine." He was starting to irritate me.

"Okay." He said nicely, but I didn't see it that way.

"For La Shien's sake, I am fine." I snapped at him. After I rubbed my forehead with my fingers. "I'm sorry, Leo. I didn't mean to do that." I felt really bad.

He put his hand on my other one that was on the table. "It's okay, Verena." He rubbed my hand with his thumb, trying to calm me down.

For the Gods sake, how does he do that? Leo always seemed to have an answer for everything. I looked at him and he was smiling so sweet and caring and his eyes were looking straight into mine. If only I can tell him my problem, but I just can't, though it's very tempting. A moment later he took his hand off of mine and chuckled as he touched the back of his head; I just smiled at him while my cheeks ran red. It was silent until we turned to see Master Splinter coming in and he greeted us.

"Good morning, my children."

"Good morning, sensei." We said in unison.

Leo cleared his throat. "Tea sensei?"

"Yes, Leonardo." He nodded. "Did you sleep well, Verena?"

I was hesitant to answer and took a deep breath. "Yes, sensei." I lied again, trying not to show it.

"Good." He said as Leo handed him his tea, and nodded to him. "And since you are up early I can tell you your training for today."

Great, something interesting. "Fantastic. What will you have me do?" I asked him.

He took a sip of his tea, then answered. "A sparring match, between you and my sons.

My eyes shot wide open. _"What?"_ I thought to myself. "May I ask why?" I asked still shocked.

"You must test your combat skills without the use of your powers. Not only that, but you have also been witnessing my son's training and you must show what you know about them as they will do to you."

It all made sense as I had a quick sigh. "I see. Well I… better prepare then." I got up and looked at Leo, and I saw it in his eyes, _"He knew."_

12:00 pm

We were all standing in the middle of the dojo, waiting for Master Splinter's instructions. Looking at each of them, I don't want to fight them for two reasons. One, those dreams were still on my mind so I wasn't focusing on them. Two, I have gotten really close to these guys; they are good people, how could I fight them? But Master Splinter knows what's best, so I must trust his decision, even if I don't like it. I pulled it together as I saw him walk to the center.

"Today, Verena, you will test your skills against my sons, and you will face them one at a time." He looked at me.

I nodded.

He looked to his sons. "Michelangelo, you are first."

"Aww…" He said disappointed. The others stepped back as he pulled out his nunchakus. "Ready, dudette?"

He said with a goofy smile.

He made me smile a little and I pulled out my sword. "Timeaus and I are ready. Let's see what you got, Mikey."

As I suspected, Mikey came out charging at me swinging his weapons. I blocked his attack with the sword, and did a spinning kick, sending him back as I charged at him with Timeaus raised. He flipped backwards and began to joke around as I tried to strike. Now I know why Raph gets mad at him, his greatest weapon was to annoy his opponents until he gets the chance to attack. I mentally blocked him out and left-hooked him in the face making him stumble. Mikey came back swinging his nunchakus as I dodge them and knocked them out of his hands with Timeaus and kicked him to the floor, causing him to lose the match.

He rubbed his head. "Man… I just got my shell kicked."

"Good, Verena. Donatello." He called Donny as Mikey stepped away.

"Looks like I'm up." He said wielding his bo staff.

This time I charged at him, but he blocked my sword and swung his staff to make me lose balance. Luckily, I caught myself to back flip and swing Timeaus at him and again he blocked it. Donny's strategy of fighting was all about calculating his opponents attack before making it; so I will use that to my advantage, doing something unexpected should throw him off. Instead of attacking him first, he came to me and I punched his plastron and swiped my legs underneath him to make him fall flat. When he didn't get up, I realize that I won the match.

"Nice one, Verena." He said to me as I helped him up and he walked back.

Master Splinter nodded. "Raphael."

Raph came out spinning his sais with a big grin on his face. "I am so gonna enjoy this. Don't think I'll be goin' easy on ya, Princess."

"Now where's the fun in that?" I told him.

Raph came charging towards me and I jumped back to the right, making him confused. I know that Raph is good, but his temper is his greatest weakness that can make it worse for me; so how do I stop a ticking time bomb? As I was trying to think of a way, he hit me with good shots to my waist and chest using the bottom of his sais. Then I got it, do to him what Mikey did to me, annoy him so bad that he has to lose focus. When he came at me again, I jumped back and taunted him to come at me; Raph tried again, but I did the same thing over again and continued it for a few attacks. I could see him getting angry and took my chance at him; I planted Timeaus on the floor and spin kicked him while holding on to the handle. Once he charged, I tripped him to the floor and knocked out his blades out of his hands, making him surrender.

"Wut the shell?" He said with an angry tone at me. "I can't believe I lost to a girl!" He got up and stomped away.

"It was nothing personal, Raph." I told him smiling.

"Yeah, whatever." He said and returned a grin to me.

"You have done well, Verena, but now you must face your last opponent." Master Splinter looked over his shoulder, "Leonardo."

Leo walks out. "So this is it."

"Yeah, I guess so." I said.

"Good luck to you, Verena." He said sweetly.

"And to you, Leo." I said with a small smile and held Timeaus forward.

He pulled out his katanas and started to walk in a circle and I did the same. It was clear that no one wanted to make the first move; this is going to be very hard to face him like this, but it has to be done. After a minute, we both charged at each other and our swords clashed; I tried to sweep my legs to make him fall, but he jumped back. He charged at me with his swords and I countered by knocking one of them out, then I spin kicked him with both legs to throw him off. Leo's way of taking on an opponent was like mine in a way, we feel out our opponent and then strike, and that's what we have been doing the whole time. There was no doubt that he was good, but to beat him I have to be better. I started to lose focus when I heard the voices from my nightmares fill my mind; I shut my eyes and shook it off and continued the match. We weren't getting anywhere during the whole thing, then the voices came back and I couldn't shake them. Out of nowhere I could not control myself and swung Timeaus so fast that I knocked Leo's other katana to the floor and I punched him on his plastron and side kicked him until he fell; I pointed my sword to his face and he yield.

"_What have I done?"_ I asked myself, breathing heavily and stepping away from Leo.

He got up and put his katanas away. "Congratulations. You did it." He said with pride in his voice.

"Well done, Verena. You used your knowledge of my sons to see their weaknesses and beat them. I am very proud of you." Master Splinter said to me and bowed.

I didn't bow to him or say anything. _"What have I done?"_ I kept asking myself, my eyes were wide open and my body was shaking.

"Verena, what is it?" Master Splinter asked worried.

"You okay?" Mikey asked.

"Do you feel sick?" Donny asked.

"Verena, what's wrong?" Leo asked with concern like the others.

I shook my head. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"It don't sound like nothin'. What's eatin' ya?" Raph asked.

"Nothing." I felt my voice shake.

"C'mon Princess tell us." Raph said wanting to know.

I snapped. "DAMMIT! When are you all going to get it through your thick skulls..." I lifted Timeaus over me, "I said… I'm… fine." I forced Timeaus to the floor as I began to sob. I was crying out of control as my hair covered my face. Not even a minute later I found the strength to take Timeaus and run to my room, leaving everyone alone. I landed on my bed and was weeping into it. All I could think of was one thing, _"What have I done?"_

**I hope you all like it and I'll try to have another up soon. Please read and review. Until next time:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello hello hello! Sorry I've been M.I.A. for a few days, but you know college really gets to you with all the homework and the exams. Anyway here is the next chapter, and if I'm still doing something wrong or if you have any ideas, please feel free to PM me anytime. Again, I do not own TMNT, but I do LOVE them. Here we go:)**

Chapter 6: The Helping Hands

Leo's P.O.V.:

"Guys, what the shell just happened?"Mikey asked us.

"I wish I knew Mikey, I really do." Donnie said looking to him.

"She looked scared out of her mind." Raph said.

I thought Verena would be happy with her victories, but something in her just snapped and next thing we know she was crying and ran away from us. Maybe it had something to do with this morning when I was with her; she looked lost, as if something was bugging her. What if that was it? And I asked all those questions without realizing it. I never meant to hurt her in any way; I just wanted her to feel better. Even when we were all concerned for Verena after the match, she panicked and was terrified, like she saw a ghost. It was all my fault; if I didn't ask her earlier she wouldn't be like this. But what could it be?

"_I can't just stand here." _I thought to myself and ran to find Verena.

"Leo?" I heard Raph call me.

"Leonardo." Master Splinter called me too, but I didn't listen.

My guess was that she was in her room, so I went to check. I get there and I can hear her weeping through the door; it made me sad just hearing her like this. I opened the door and saw her on the bed with her head buried deep in her arms and her body shook with each cry that she let out. Feeling myself go numb and my heart beating through my chest, I walked over and sat on the bed next to Verena. I don't know what to say to her, but I know I have to try for her. With her still crying I can only think of one thing to do.

I bent my upper body down to her and gave her a hug on her back. "It's okay, Verena. Everything's going to be okay." I told her.

She lifted her body up to look at me, tears running down her face. "Leo!" She said my name as he hugged me and cried into my plastron.

"I'm here. I'm here." I said softly to her hugging her tight.

I could feel the tears run down my plastron and her sobs were shaky as I held her. If only I could take her pain away, to make her happy again. Seeing Verena happy makes me feel good, and it made me want to be around her even more, and maybe she would want to be around me too. The past several days made me think about her and I know that I don't want to lose her; not now not ever. And no matter what happens, I'll fight to my last breath to keep her safe; and no one can hold me down. Her sobbing began to slow down and my brothers came in to check if she was alright. I loosened my hug on Verena so she can see them with us; her head lifted up and she saw them standing next to me.

She took a deep breath. "Hey… guys." She said, her voice was still shaking.

"You okay Princess?" Raph asked sitting next to us.

"Yeah… I think so."

"Can we ask you what happened Verena?" Donnie said.

I looked at her. "You don't have to if you're not comfortable, Verena."

She gave me a squeeze. "It's alright Leo. I'm ready to explain." She let go of me so she can sit up and began to tell us.

10 Minutes Later…

Verena had finished her story and this was something that we all didn't expect. She has had the same nightmare since we brought her with us, which was over several days ago. In this nightmare, she's sent back to her world and see's most of her people massacred; what's worse was her family was beheaded by a dark force in a shape of a black cloud with red eyes. This cloud tells Verena negative things like she failed her family and they suffered because of her; each night they grew worse than the last one becoming more brutal and harsh in her mind. We all felt really bad that Verena had been suffering through these nightmares and they were tearing her apart from the inside.

"Verena, if you have been having these nightmares, why didn't you tell us before?" Donnie asked.

"Because I didn't know how to tell you." Verena answered and sighed. "I wanted to tell you I really did, but I wasn't sure what they meant and I thought they would eventually go away. I'm sorry, I didn't want to worry you guys after all the things that you've done, but it's a little too late for that, huh?"

I put a hand on her shoulder. "It's never too late."

"Yeah, we'll help you get through 'em." Mikey told her.

"Really? You guys would do this for me?" Verena asked as she looked at all of us.

"Course we will." Raph told her.

"We're your friends." Donny said smiling.

"Remember what I said," I rubbed her shoulder, "no matter what we will always be here for you."

She let tears fall from her eyes and she smiled. "Thank you all so much."

7:00 pm

The rest of the day Verena had taken it easy and was trying to relax. Master Splinter insisted us to each spend some time with her so she could set her mind at ease. Mikey had spent his time with Verena teaching her how to cook pizza, Donny and Verena worked on the Battle Shell, and Raph and her spent a couple of hours watching movies. After an early dinner, the guys were playing videogames and I was with Verena in her room, talking to her more so we can know each other.

"You've had so many adventures and you did them all on your own?" I asked her as she told me of her training that she's had in her life.

"I did, but I wasn't always alone." Verena said.

"Right. Your friends and family must have helped you a lot."

"Yes they did, but most of it were my decisions and they supported me, even if I was away for a while." She got up and picked up a large book. "Would you like to see them?"

I nodded. "Yes I would."

Verena walked over and sat next to me on her bed. This book that she had was large and silver with a sun and crescent moon symbol in the center. It began to glow a white light all around it and I thought that was odd because normal books don't light up when you touch it. She opened it to the first page with a picture of her in a gold dress wearing a crown that had the same symbol in the middle. I was shocked when the picture moved and Verena looked at me and chuckled. Maybe it was a part of her world when photos moved, either way it was odd and interesting.

"Do all photos in your world move?"

She nodded. "It's a special enchantment that we use that records what events we want to be photographed." She flipped the page and pointed at a photo with a man and woman. "Those are my parents, Alistair and Aurora Ishtar." She went to another one with a young woman in it, "This is my older sister, Liza," and the last one with an older man, "and that's my grandfather, Riordin Ishtar."

We went through several photos with her family members in them, like her parents wedding, her sister being born, and her grandfather winning the Battle Nexus Tournament. Some of the other photos were of her planet from the people, landscape, and the palace that sits near the sea; it was an amazing place. Verena seemed to have grown up in a wonderful world full of peace and love for more generations to be a part of. The next page had a few photos of her when she was young, learning how to walk, singing and dancing on a stage, and swimming with her sister in a lake. I chuckled a little seeing how cute she was as a kid; then she turned the page to a family portrait where they were all laughing and smiling.

"You have a wonderful family." I told her.

"Thank you." She said moving closer to me, and I felt my face getting warm. "We may have to deal with our planet's problems, but through it all we're still close and we always will be."

"It sounds like you all have so much to take care of."

"Yes," Verena looked down and closed the book. "but in the end, it's all worth it."

I didn't say anything. All I did was look at her and smile.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked.

I nodded. "Sure."

"Why does Raph call you Fearless?"

I rubbed my neck. "Well, it because I'm the leader of the team and also with my seriousness."

"There is nothing wrong with being serious; it just means that you are very protective as your brothers are as well."

"Yeah, that's true."

"In fact you all have very unique personalities." She said. "Let me explain. Take Mikey, underneath all the jokes and wise cracks, he has hidden wisdom that is very useful. Donnie is very intelligent and it makes him think outside the box which says he has an open mind. And Raph, through his temper and tough guy attitude, he has a passionate heart and he will do anything for his loved ones."

"And what is it that you see in me?" I asked her out of curiosity.

Verena put a hand on my shoulder. "You really can't see it? Leo, behind your leadership and honor is someone that always hopes for good things. Whether a person is a friend or foe, you want to see the good in others and that shows the nature of a good heart."

I was taken back by her words. Verena can really see all of those things? In my brothers? In me? She is just full of surprises. However, what she just said was true, not just in me, but in all of us no matter how different we are. Our inner strengths are what make us strong and it's also what keeps us together. I was staring at her for a moment, looking into her deep brown eyes and seeing her inner beauty; Verena was a good and honest person that makes my heart urge for her. But what am I thinking? I can't do it. I can't show her how I feel, even if I want to.

"Leo?" I heard Verena say my name. "Are you alright?" She looked at me with a worried look.

"Hmm. Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Just have a lot going through my mind, that's all." I looked at her and she had the same look. "Don't worry Verena, I'm fine."

She rubbed my shoulder with her thumb. "Okay. If you're sure."

"I promise." I gave her a small smile and she did the same.

The room became silent. I took a hold of her hand that was on my shoulder, rubbing my fingers on her skin. It felt soft while mine was rough. Her hand was warm and mine was a little cold. She was beautiful and I was okay I guess for a mutant turtle. She is warrior and I am too. Verena is a princess from another planet and I am a mutant turtle that lives in the sewers of New York City. How could she ever care for someone like me? Especially if she must have someone in her world, waiting for her to return. Looking at the clock it was 9; for two hours I was with her and I already learned a bit of who she is and she knows a bit about me too. I let go of Verena's hand and she started to yawn. She must be tired after today. I got up, grabbed her book, and put it back on her desk.

"You should probably get some sleep." I told her.

She stretched out her arms. "Yeah… you're probably right. Oh, wait! Hand me the headband, will you Leo?"

"Sure." I got her the headband that Donnie told her to wear to bed so he can look at her brain waves in the morning. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Verena pit it around her forehead and got into bed.

"Are you sure you don't need one of us to stay with you?" I asked.

"I'm sure, but I appreciate it." She smiled at me.

"Well, I'll see you in the morning." I said as I turned to leave.

"Leo." Verena called me and motioned her hand for me to come over. When I sat down beside her she put her arms around my neck, hugging me. "Goodnight, Leo."

I put my arms around her. "Goodnight, Verena." I whispered in her ear.

Verena let go and I got up from her bed. I left as soon as she lied down. The rest of the night I was in my room, not bothering my brothers and their fun. As I was laying in my bed, I kept on thinking about what to do next. Where do I go from here? I know I'll never be good enough for her. I will be what I have always been, a 19 year old mutant ninja turtle.

**Well, what do you think? Hopefully I did okay, but if not just let me know. Please R&R. Until next time:)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello hello hello! Okay people, here is another chapter. When I was reading the chapters so far I kept on thinking if I was making Leo and my OC move fast. Am I or is it just me? Please let me know. Like before, I do not own TMNT only my OC's. Let's go:)**

Chapter 7: Secrets

Verena's P.O.V.:

It has been over a month since being here on Earth and since then my life has been going good. The nightmares that I had disappeared shortly after I told everyone about them and it really did help talking it over with all of them. I have been joining the guys in their training as I still did mine and Master Splinter has been having me meditate with him at night. The guys have also been really helpful; Mikey taught me how to play videogames, I help Donnie with his experiments, Raph helps me with my work-outs, and Leo and I still have our conversation, sometimes during sparring.

I got up a little early today before everyone to make some teas so I can perk up a little. On some mornings like this back home, I like to sing out loud because it lifts my spirits up. I remember this one song that I learned from my father a long time ago when I was eight years old. It was an old song that was sung by the warrior's of Kennistar's Light Age, which was over a million years ago. I looked around to see if anyone was up until I saw that it was all clear. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and began to sing.

_Oh, all the money e'er I had,_

_I spent it in good company, _

_And of all the harm that e'er I've done,_

_Alas it was to none but me._

_And of all I've done for want of wit to my mem'ry now I can't recall; _

_So fill to me your parting glass,_

_Goodnight and joy be with you all._

_Of all the comrades that e'er I had,_

_They're sorry now for my goin' away,_

_And of all the sweethearts that e'er I've had they would wish one more day to stay._

_But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not,_

_I'll gently rise an' softly call,_

_Goodnight and joy be with you all._

_A man my drink an' not be drunk;_

_A man may fight an' not be slain;_

_A man may court a pretty girl,_

_And perhaps be welcom'd home again._

_But since it has so order'd been a time to rise an' a time to fall,_

_Fill to me your parting glass,_

_Goodnight and joy be with you all, _

_So goodnight and joy be with you all. _

Once I stopped I opened my eyes and saw that the tea was almost ready. I went to the cupboard and took out a few tea cups for whoever wanted any.

"Whoa." I heard a few voice from behind me.

I gasped and turned around to see the guys standing there with their mouths wide open. "What are you guys trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

"Nah! We would never do that to you dudette." Mikey said with a grin.

"It's just that we couldn't help but hear your voice." Donnie said.

"My voice?" I put my fingers to my throat, blushing a little.

"Yeah, where'd ya learn to sing like that Princess?" Raph asked.

"My parents taught me a long time ago." I said as I poured tea into a cup.

"Verena your singing is beautiful; you truly have a gift." Leo told me with a smile on his face.

I felt my cheeks get really hot. "Thank you."

"Well check you out Fearless Leader." Raph said.

"Zip it Hot-Head." Leo said to him turning red.

I thought that Leo and Raph were going to go at it until we saw Master Splinter walk in. The room fell silent. The guys were able to calm down long enough for they knew not to fight in front of their father. I wondered though what Raph meant by his comment. Even Leo got defensive for a minute there. I'll have to wait until another time.

"Good morning, my children." Master Splinter greeted us.

"Good morning, sensei." We all said.

I went to bring him his tea. "Here you are."

"Thank you, Verena." He bowed his head and took a sip. "By the way, your singing is truly soothing, my dear."

"Thank you Master Splinter." I bowed to him. Then I looked at the time, "I'd better get dressed."

"Oh yeah! Aren't you going out with April today?" Mikey asked.

I nodded.

"Good thing too, you look like you could use some fresh air." Donnie said.

"Yeah I know," I said as I walked out, "and besides, I have Mikey coming out of my ears."

"Hey." Mikey said and the guys laughed.

3:00 pm

April and I have been walking around the mall for a good two hours while the guys were with their other friend Casey. It's been nice to finally be with another girl instead of four guys for a change. The one that I didn't like was wearing a blonde wig; it was to keep my identity a secret for when I'm out during the day and it was very itchy on my scalp. Spending this time with April has been fun, and she's a really great person to be around, especially when you're out shopping. We decided to take a break and have a late lunch at a restaurant called The Ivy. Their food was really good and me and April were just sitting there talking after we ate.

"So how's it been like living with the guys?" April asked me, without revealing my name.

"It's been interesting, besides the fact that they eat a lot of pizza, play videogames, and drive each other nuts sometimes." I took s drink of water. "Other than that, not bad at all."

"That's great to hear." April said. "So, do you have someone special waiting for you back home?"

"_Oh Gods. She just had to ask me." _I thought to myself as I drank my water and took a deep breath. "No, I don't."

"Really? If I'm not being too personal, may I ask you why?" She asked being polite.

I took another deep breath. "Well it's not like I haven't tried because I have. It is just that…. When men say that they love me it's only what I am that they are in love with and not with who I am on the inside. They only love me because I am a princess and I want more than that; I want to love somebody that can understand me, make me smile, and love me for me. You know?"

"Yeah, I do." April said smiling. "Are you by any chance attracted to anyone here?"

"_Should I?"_ I asked myself and let it out. "Well there is someone… that I… like… a lot."

"Well what does he look like?" She asked.

"Um… he as brown eyes, wears something blue, and has a shell. I mumbled the last part, but clear enough for April to hear.

Her eyes shot open. "Leo? You like Leo?"

I nodded. "Yes." I took a deep breath, "When I'm with Leo everything just makes sense. He's sweet and caring, he makes me smile, we have many things in common; even when he hold me, my heart flutters and I could melt in his arms. I don't even care if he isn't a human because I care for him just the way he is, all of him."

"Aww. That's so sweet." April smiled really big. "And who knows, maybe Leo likes you too."

"Do you think so?" I asked her.

"If he's done all those things for you then there's a big possibility. But, Leo is a very guarded turtle so my advice to you would be to take it slow and wait to hear what he has to say." She said.

I soaked in what she told me and agreed. "Alright. Thank you April." I smiled.

Hey, what a girlfriend's for." She said and looked at her watch. "You ready to head back?"

I nodded and we left.

Leo's P.O.V.:

While April took Verena out, Casey, my brothers, and I stayed at the Lair catching up and watching TV. It was kind of good spending some time with the guys as the girls went out. We were laughing, eating, having a good time. About an hour after watching Band of Brothers, Raph and Casey were fighting on the floor and the rest of us just watched; it ended after two minutes and Raph get up and comes walking towards me.

"So Fearless, how long have you and Princess been goin' out?" He asked making fun of me.

"We're not going out." I told him.

"Really, then how come you're always around her?" He asked.

Oh so now I'm not allowed to even talk to her?" I said all irritated, and got up from the couch.

"Somebody's getting' all defensive. If I didn't know it, you have a crush on her." Raph said.

I almost lost it. "I-I…" I didn't know what to say. Raph was right and I can't hide it. All I can do is look down at the floor.

"Geez Raph, cool it." I heard Casey say.

Donnie and Mikey came over to us. "You okay Leo?" My youngest brother asked me.

I looked up. "Yeah."

Raph sighed. "Look bro, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean ta-"

"No it's okay." I told him. "It's just that I-I do have a crush on Verena."

"Like you like her feelings?" Donnie asked.

I shook my head. "More like… love her."

"Love her?" Everyone said at once.

I nodded and turned red.

"You're in love with Verena?" Donnie asked.

I took a deep breath and admitted it. "Verena is an amazing person. She's kind, truthful, she makes me smile when we talk to each other, we laugh; when we hug I feel like time stops and she makes my heart skip a beat every time I'm with her. I always thought that I would never have these feeling for anyone, but Verena… she's so beautiful and I'm crazy about her."

"Woah." Casey said.

"Have you told her?" Mikey asked.

"No… and I don't plan on telling her."

"Why not?" Raph asked.

"Because… I'm not good enough for her. Verena's a princess and I'm just a mutant turtle. Why would she ever love someone like me?"

"You never know until you try bro." Donnie said.

"Yeah I guess so."

"Who knows maybe this girl likes ya." Casey said.

"Give it a shot," Raph told me putting a hand on my shoulder. "but only when you're ready to."

I nodded. "Okay. Thanks guys." I said, having a lot to think about.

**I hope I did good with this chapter cause it was super hard. By the way, the song that I put in for my OC to sing is called "The Parting Glass" that is arranged by Desmond Earley; if you go on YouTube and type the song title with the University of Dublin they do the song so beautifully. And since I'm doing it in Chamber Choir right now, why not have her sing it because it is so stinkin' great. Anyway please R&R. Until next time:)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello hello hello! Here is another chapter hopefully to your liking, but if not please let me know so that way I can improve. Anyway, like before, I will love TMNT but I do not own them. Let's roll:)**

Chapter 8: A Night Out

Verena's P.O.V.:

After April and I got back from the mall, we hung out with the guys until Casey and her left a half an hour later. I went to my room to put away my clothes and take a nap. Good thing too because I was exhausted. Having that conversation with April earlier gave me a lot to think about with Leo. Being with him makes me have so many emotions that I thought I would never have again, and I only had these feelings once for someone on my planet, until he turned into a Dark Bender and tricked me. Since then many warriors, lords, or princes would "love" me and I didn't care because they were lying. They were only in love with my status and that's not what love is; love is when two people can accept each other for who they are both outside and inside. That's what I feel now with Leo and I'm wondering how he feels about me; does it explain how he gets defensive for me and when he blushes. I do not know. I can only hope that it's the answer that I am looking for.

I got up from my bed, got a change of clothes, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. As soon as the water hit my body, I felt so relaxed; I bought myself a cherry blossom body wash that made my skin smell good. The perfume from the wash was strong, but not too strong to give me a headache. I got out of the shower, dried myself off, and changed into a white long-sleeve shirt, black jeans, and black pumps; then I went into my room, grabbed a book, and walked to the living room. The Lair was quiet as everyone was doing their own thing and I sat on the armchair and read a book on Buddhism quotes. Many of them were wise throughout different topics in life like action, health, fear, etc.; I've had this book for a very long time and it definitely helps me sometimes when I lose my way. Sometimes I also have the habit of reading out loud to myself and I don't know why I do it, I just do.

"Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of-"

"Virtue." I heard a voice say.

I shot up from the chair and saw Leo coming in my direction. "Leo."

"Uh… sorry I didn't mean to scare you." He said coming closer.

"Oh no it's alright. I have a habit of reading…. out loud." I stopped as Leo stood in front of me, with his bandana off. "You're not wearing your bandana." Wow, I sound really stupid.

Leo lifted his hand to his face, "Yeah I'm… just washing it. Do I look funny?"

I shook my head. "No" I took his hand away from his face, "You look really handsome."

"You think so?" Leo asked, putting his other hand behind his neck.

I nodded smiling at him.

Leo really is handsome. I can see his eyes so clearly with his bandana off, they were still beautiful. His face looked so strong and yet so soft. I don't know what tempted me to touch his face, but I ended up doing it. My hand met his skin and it felt so smooth. I felt his hands take mine and pulled it gently away from his face and rubbed my hand between his two.

"So were you reading on of Buddha's quotes?" Leo asked changing the subject and letting go of my hand.

"Yes," I turned and grabbed the book with my telekinesis, "it kind of helps me think about my life so I've always kept it."

"Really?"

I nodded.

Leo looked at me wanting to say something, but looked away. "Verena… I've been thinking and I was wondering if you would like to … join us on our patrol tonight?" He asked me all nervous.

"Uh.. yes. I would like to." I said.

"Good. We'll leave in an hour." Leo said.

"Okay." I said as I turned to walk away, but Leo grabbed my hand. All I did was look down then at him.

"Sorry there was something else that I wanted to ask you." He said still holding my hand.

"What is it Leo?" I asked him with a small smile.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, I wanted to know if you would like to… go out… tomorrow night?" Leo asked, his face turning red.

I was confused at his question. "You mean.. on a date?"

Leo nodded and smiled, "Yeah, a date."

I thought about it and answered. "Yes I would love to." I smiled.

He lit up. "Okay. It will be around eight. Is that fine with you?"

"It's alright with me." I smiled.

"Great." Leo said. He then lifted my hand and put it to his lips, kissing it. "We'll see you in an hour." He let go of my hand and walked off.

I walked to my room, shut the door and plopped on my bed. My heat was racing so fast that I had to put it on my chest to calm it down. By the Gods, Leo is so handsome, charming, and such a gentleman; the way that he asked me out was so cute. When he kissed my hand…, OH GODS, it was magical. I thought I was going to faint when he did that; Leo caught me completely off guard. With our date tomorrow, I kept begging to the Gods that it will be wonderful. And I have to figure out what to wear. It will have to wait until after the patrol tonight, so I got up and changed into my armor, grabbed Timaeus and left to meet the others.

Later that evening…

Going on patrol with the guys is really incredible. All the running around and jumping from building to building throughout the city, looking for something suspicious. Mikey was trying to race me, but he must be out of his mind if he thinks he could beat me. We raced pass ten buildings and I won with flying colors. I looked back and Mikey was panting and bending down with his hands on his knees while the guys came to us.

"How… did you… do that?" Mikey asked breathing hard.

"It's simple, I ran." I joked with him.

"Your agility is amazing. Do your people really possess that kind of power?" Donnie asked.

"Of course not. It takes years of training to be able to control and extend to your agility pass its limits, but once you get that hang of it, it becomes easy." I said.

"So Mikey here never stood a chance against ya." Raph said.

I nodded. "Right."

"Ya might wanna think about that next time before you get your shell kicked, numbskull." Raph told Mikey slapping his shell.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Ha ha. Listen to the funny mutant." Mikey said.

I stopped laughing when I felt a strange presence in the air. Then I looked at Leo, "Leo?" I called him as he looked down the building. "What is it?"

"Trouble." Leo said and motioned us to come over to look.

We saw a group of guys with guns robbing a jewelry store. From what I could see, these guys looked like thugs and they each had the same dragon symbol either tattooed on them or it was on their clothes. Some of them took bags of the stolen jewels with them while the others were trashing the place and hit the owner in the face with a gun. They all laughed and walked away. This was making me sick to my stomach to watch. I looked at the guys and we all nodded and we began to follow them. We were able to cut them off in a dead end alley not that far from the store. Those thugs were about to load the bags into a small vehicle until I used my telekinesis to knock over a trash can, making them look around. We all came out from the shadows and made the others turn around.

"Who are you guys supposed to be?" I asked.

"They're nothin' more than a bunch of good for nothing Purple Dragons." Raph said spinning one of his sais.

"Bust 'em up Dragons!" I heard one of them say to the others.

They came charging at us with their guns raised, ready to hit us. I used my air-bending to push three of them away while the guys took care of the others. The three that I pushed got up and were trying to hit me, but I blocked most of their attempts. I kick one of them in the face and grabbed the gun of another that tried to shoot me, but made the gun go off. The guys turned to see if I was okay, but I didn't pay attention as I was struggling to disarm this punk. I looked behind to see two more aiming at me so I pulled the guy down and kicked him over to the other two crashing into them. Seeing most of them on the ground groaning in pain, I got up and walked over to the guys that were tying up the others.

"Well that was fun." Raph said.

"How did you do, Verena?" Donnie asked.

"I think I did pretty well," I said still walking over, "and those guys didn't stand a chance against us." I felt someone grab me from behind, wrapped an arm around my neck, and pointed a gun to my head; the guys drew their weapons ready to strike.

"Drop 'em or your little friend here gets it." He said tightening his grip around my neck.

"Let her go!" Leo said with an angry tone.

The guy holding me chuckled. "Not until ya do what I asked." He put his face near my ear, "Isn't that right, babe?"

"_You have got to be kidding me?"_ I thought as he breathed into my ear.

I can see the guys getting furious with this guy, but Leo looked like he was about to hit him. Leo looked to his brothers and they all dropped their weapons like they were told to do. They all looked worried keeping a fighting stance. I can't believe they would do this for me, but then again they must be use to things like this by now.

"Hmph. I shouldda known that these freaks will do anything to protect ya." He said pushing the gun to my head.

"_I got it."_ I said to myself and got an idea. _"I hope this works." _I looked to the guys and winked at them; they looked at each other confused. "You see that's your biggest mistake; thinking that I need them to protect me."

"Huh?" The guy said and loosened his arm.

"_Gottcha."_ I stomped on his foot, elbowed him in the stomach, and threw him down to the ground. He was going to shoot until I grabbed his hand and disarmed him; I lifted him up from his shirt, "Who needs protecting now." I touched a pressure point on his neck and he was out cold. I sighed in relief.

"You okay dudette?" Mikey asked as he helped me up.

"I'm fine Mikey." I said and felt something sting my right arm.

"Uh, Verena, what's that purple stuff on your arm?" Donnie asked looking concerned.

I looked at my arm and blood was running down. "How did that happen?"

Donnie held my arm to take a look. "You have a gunshot wound."

"Does it hurt?" Raph asked.

I shook my head. "No it just stings."

"We should get back to the Lair." Leo said.

One hour later…

"OW! Go easy with the alcohol, Don, I need my arm." I said to Donnie as he was cleaning my wound.

"Well hold still and maybe you'll keep it." He said. "Almost done….. there. All clean. It wasn't that deep in your skin so it should heal after a few days." Donnie said and grabbed the bandages to wrap my arm.

"You got lucky." Mikey said.

"I know," I said while Donnie was wrapping my arm, "but I've had worse than this."

"Worse than bein' shot in the arm?" Raph asked.

I nodded. "I've been stabbed, slashed, and shot at so much that I lost count."

The guys looked at me shocked. "What other types of injuries have you had?" Donnie asked.

"Well," I was trying to think and then I remembered, "besides the things that I mentioned, I had broken my legs three times, a broken neck once, dislocated my left shoulder four times, internal bleeding several ti-"

"Please stop. I'm 'bout ready to hurl." Mikey said looking pale and putting his hands on his stomach and mouth.

"Oh! Sorry." I said realizing that my descriptions were making Mikey sick. "The worst thing that I have ever gotten from my battles was concussions."

"Why that?" Raph asked.

"Because I have had many head injuries in the past and now when I get them, these concussions have led me to being in a coma."

"So you get them when you've been hit on the head?" Leo asked.

"Not quite. You see the only way to get a concussion is if you hit your head pretty hard and with me I get them if I get hit really hard." I said trying my best to explain.

"How many times have you been in a coma?" Leo asked with his arms crossed.

I took a short breath. "Twice. The last one I had was from a giant explosion that I had confined with my force field and the shock waves went straight to my head making me go into a coma. I was out cold for a good… mmm… three months."

"Three months!?" They all said looking surprised.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like I wanted it to happen and I did what I had to do for my planet." I said almost yelling at them; then I calmed down. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Donnie said finishing my arm. "How long ago did it happen?"

"Um… two years ago, and since then I've been fine." I sighed. "However, if a force like that messes up my head, I may not wake up the next time."

I just stared at the floor and the guys didn't say anything, then I thought back to that day two years ago. On Kennistar at the time it was a big deal; Dark Benders threatened to destroy the planet's core using a radiation bomb. This bomb was supposed to overheat the core and cause it to self-destruct, causing the planet to go with it. The Kennistar Army had fought their way through to the bomb with the Dark Benders leaders, Nathias and Nanuke, waiting for them. I came in from behind and distracted the two while my people tried to deactivate it. When I finally cornered both of them, Nathias struck me with his lightning-bending while Nanuke activated the timer on the bomb; then they both retreated with their forces. I told my commander, Archimedes, to pull the forces back as I stayed behind; with them all gone I used my force field to hold the energy inside protecting the core. It took everything that I had, but almost came with a high price.

It took me a couple of months after I woke up to be one hundred percent. Of all the things that I've done for my people, my family, Kennistar, I realized that I will give my life for the protection of everyone and everything that I've ever known. No one, not even Nathias or Nanuke or their puppets are going to stop me; I will give up everything before I see all that I love die. The peace since then was mostly restored, my people were well again, but all we can do is pray and hope that it will be kept. I looked up and the guys were looking at me with small smiles, reassuring me that everything was going to be fine, and I smiled back.

"Well, I don't know 'bout you guys, but I'm gonna rack." Raph said leaving the lab.

"Yeah me too. Night guys." Mikey said leaving.

I yawned. "I better get some sleep too." I got up and hugged Donnie. "Thank you for fixing my arm."

"No problem, Verena. Goodnight." Donnie said smiling.

"Goodnight." I turned and started to walk.

"Verena. Hold on a sec." Leo came walking to me when I stopped. "I'll walk you back."

"Alright." I said smiling at him.

We got to my bedroom door. "I don't mean to sound pushy, but are you still up for tomorrow night?" Leo asked shyly.

I chuckled. "Of course I am," I took my hand and placed it on his shoulder, "and you're not being pushy." I took my hand off of his shoulder. "Goodnight, Leo."

"Goodnight, Verena." He said and walked away.

I entered my room, shut the door, and changed into my nightgown, wanting for tomorrow to come already.

**Whew! That took me forever. What do you think? Too long? Well the next chapter is all about their date. Honestly, I don't know if they would ever go on a date, but I'm giving it a shot so please don't judge me or my imagination. Please R&R. Until next time:)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello hello hello! Alright people after over a week of writing and a whole lot of thinking, I am very pleased and excited to post this chapter. So this is how I imagined what being on a date with Leo would be like and I hope I did him proud. Honestly, this chapter was the hardest one to write so far so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Like always, I do not own TMNT, but I love them so much. Read on:)**

Chapter 9: The Date

Verena's P.O.V.:

I got up early this morning, happy that today finally came because I will be going out with Leo tonight. The day was going well, our training lasted for two hours, I helped Donnie with the Battle Shell's guns, Raph and I had a rematch and we called it a draw, I taught Mikey how to make ice cream which resulted into a food fight and we cleaned the kitchen, then Leo and I meditated for a while. After that I called April to come over so that way I can have some help for later. I was in my room trying to figure out what to wear, but since Leo didn't tell me where we were going it was hard to pick. I wonder if all women get this jittery about a date. This would be something that I would ask my mother and sister; they always knew what to do with these problems and I can really use some advice.

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was 5:30; good thing that we didn't have another training session later. I decided to keep my hair curled so all I've been doing was brushing it out. The whole day I was humming to myself and the only time I do that is when I get really excited. I have been excited about tonight and being with Leo away from the Lair; to finally have some time to be alone even if it is for one night. Thinking about it, I started to sing a song that I heard on the radio a few days ago.

_I came apart inside a world made of angry people  
I found a boy who had a dream  
Making everyone smile  
He was sunshine  
I fell over my feet  
Like bricks underwater_

How am I supposed to tell you how I feel  
I need oxygen  
Oh baby if I was your lady?  
I would make you happy  
I'm never gonna leave, never gonna leave  
Oh baby I will be your lady  
I am going crazy for you

And so I found a state of mind  
Where I could be speechless  
I had to try it for a while  
To figure out this feeling  
This felt so right  
Pull me upside down to a place  
Where you've been waiting

How am I supposed to tell you how I feel  
I need oxygen  
Oh baby if I was your lady  
I would make you happy  
I'm never gonna leave,  
Never gonna leave  
Oh baby I will be your lady  
I am going crazy for you

And you don't wanna keep me waiting  
Staring at my fingers feeling like a fool

Oh baby I will be your lady  
I will make you happy  
I'm never gonna leave,  
Never gonna leave  
Oh baby I will be your lady  
I'm going crazy, yeah-oh

Tell me what you want,  
Baby tell me what you need  
Anything I ask baby give it to me  
Baby give it to me, give it to me

I came apart inside a world made of angry people  
I found a boy who had a dream  
Making everyone smile 

I sighed and heard a knock on the door, "Come in."

The door opened and April walked in. "Hey Verena."

"Hi April." I said fixing my hair.

"So are you ready for tonight?" April asked.

"I guess so, but…I…," I looked at April through the mirror, "I'm not sure how to be around him."

April put a hand on my shoulder, "All you have to do is just be yourself, Verena. Leo likes you for who you are and there is no reason for you to change that, okay?"

I smiled and got up to show her my outfit choices. "Thanks April, and I still don't know what to wear."

"Well, did Leo tell you where you guys are going?" April asked looking at my bed.

I shook my head, "All he told me was that it's a surprise. So between these two, what do you think?" I asked.

"Hmmm…. how about this teal dress with your gold heel sandals?" April said picking up the dress.

It was my favorite dress from Kennistar; a beautiful teal color that could make your eyes pop out. The length suited me that went down pass my ankles and on top the sleeves went a little pass my elbows. With my gold shoes, they make the color stand out. April picked a really good one.

I nodded. "Yeah. This is perfect!" April gave me the dress and I spun around to the mirror holding the dress to my body. "Thank you so much April."

"You're welcome." April said and touched my arm. "Come on. Let's get you ready."

"Right."

Leo's P.O.V.:

I was running around all day in the Lair trying to get everything ready for tonight. This date has to be perfect for the perfect girl. When I asked her last night, I thought she would have said no, but when she said yes I was so happy. I didn't even plan on kissing her either, it just happened, but at the same time it felt right. Being with Verena has brought a new light in my life; an emotion that I thought I will never have for any girl, period. The guys have been helping me out for the date and I'll set up half an hour before it starts; even Master Splinter helped me plan out what to do with her. I was surprised that sensei was okay with all of this, he probably thinks that I should try something different for once. Maybe I don't spend that much time doing things for myself because I'm busy being the leader and being responsible for my family's safety; is that such a bad thing? I never thought so, but now… I'll have to wait and see what the night brings.

With all the stuff gathered up I was finally getting myself ready. I took a shower, trying to smell as clean as possible so that way I won't smell like sewer water. After I was done and dried myself off, I got my bandana out of the dryer and put it on. I looked at myself in the mirror and I started to have second thoughts, but I quickly snapped out of it trying not to worry.

"_Don't worry, Leo. Everything's gonna turn out perfect."_ I said to myself as I started to head out, _"No turning back now."_

8:00 pm

I'm sitting in the living room waiting for Verena. All of a sudden I started to get nervous; my heart was about ready to pound out of my chest and my breathing got faster. The guys, Master Splinter, and Casey decided to wait with me and we were guessing that April was with her. Master Splinter came up to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Do not worry, Leonardo. Everything will be fine." Master Splinter said.

"I know. It's just that I don't want to mess things up." I told him.

"My son, you have worked hard to make this evening possible for you and Verena. She will appreciate all that you have done for her; you will not let anyone down as long as you know that you have done your best." He said smiling.

"Yeah bro. Besides what's the worst that can happen?" Donnie said putting a hand on my other shoulder.

"Nothing. Except that she might not like it, or think it's boring, or would wanna… Ow!" Mikey said and Raph hit him on the head."

"Ya not helping, Blockhead." Raph said getting mad at him.

"What?" Mikey shrugged his shoulders.

We saw April come in a moment later. "Hey guys." She greeted us with a big smile.

"Where's Verena, babe?" Casey asked as we were all looking around.

She chuckled. "I'm glad that you asked. Verena." April called her.

A door opened and we could hear heels walking towards us. When we turned to the direction of the sound, my mouth almost falls to the floor. I can see Verena wearing a long teal dress and gold heels with her hair curled. She looks incredibly beautiful and she just took my breath away. My heart started to beat so loud that I can hear it in my head. I looked at the others, and they had their mouths open; then Mikey let out a wolf whistle, making Verena blush. She stood right in front of me, fluttering her eyelashes a few times and she giggled at me.

I shook my head and calmed down. "Wow. You look wonderful."

"Thank you. You look handsome, Leo." She said smiling.

"Thanks." I said and cleared my throat. "We should get going."

Verena nodded and I hooked my arm with hers.

"You both have a good time and be cautious." Master Splinter said.

"We will sensei." I said and we turned to leave.

"Don't stay out too late, kiddies." Mikey joked at us, making my face get warm.

"Goodnight guys." Verena said looking back.

"Night."

"See you later."

Once out of the Lair, Verena looked at me, "So, Leo, where are we going?"

"You'll have to wait and see." I said smiling at her. "It's a surprise."

Verena's P.O.V.:

Honestly when it comes to surprises, I don't mind them because it keeps me thinking about what it could be, but this surprise that Leo had was one that I wanted him to tell me. I am about to lose my patience. Leo has us stop once we are out of the park and puts a blindfold on me. He really is trying to surprise me; I felt Leo take my hand and lead us the rest of the way. Ten minutes later we stop somewhere and Leo is probably checking if it's all clear. That whole time I hear a strange sound and smell a familiar scent of… water. But where are we?

"Okay." Leo takes my hand. "Let's go."

I walk a little slow and from the grass I feel something odd on my feet. "Can I see now?" I asked.

I hear him chuckle. "No, not yet." He stops. "Wait here."

I feel his hands take the blindfold off as I kept my eyes shut.

"Alright, Verena." Leo whispers in my ear. "You can look now."

I finally open my eyes and gasped at the site of where we are. It was the beach; the waves hitting the shore, the sand is soft to the touch, and the sky reflected in the ocean like a mirror. The moon was big and bright while the stars twinkled like diamonds all over. I looked to my right and see a blanket laid out on the sand; there were a couple lanterns lit that made a faint light. There was also a basket and top of this basket is a beautiful white lotus flower, looking as bright as the moon itself. This is the best surprise ever and Leo really outdid himself for this date; the look of all this is so romantic and I am here to share this moment with him. No one yelling, no one stopping us, no problems, the world felt at ease and we were here in this peaceful night together.

"By the Gods," I'm still taking in the site, "in all my years, no one has done anything like this for me before. Oh, Leo, this is truly amazing." I said smiling at him.

He smiled. "I am glad that you like it."

"Like it? I love it." I took his hand and held it. "Thank you so much."

"Of course." Leo said squeezing my hand and led me to the blanket.

I lifted my dress so I could sit better, "This all looks so wonderful. It must have taken you a while to prepare all of this."

He shook his head, "No, it was kind of easy to plan." He took the flower and handed it to me, "Here, this is for you."

"Oh, Leo, it's beautiful." I took the lotus gently from his hand and put it to my nose to smell it; the flower had a fresh aroma that I love. "Thank you, but I don't have anything for you." I said feeling bad that I didn't get him anything.

"You don't have to give me anything." Leo said with a soft smile, "Your company here is good enough for me." He looked at the basket and opened it, "You hungry?"

"A little bit." I said.

Leo took out a small black box and handed it to me, "I hope you like seafood." Then he took out two small cups and a teapot.

I opened the box and it had sushi on top, sauce on the side, and chopsticks on the bottom. "This looks good, thank you."

"You're welcome." Leo said and handed me a tea cup.

The sushi looked really good. I took my chopsticks and took a bite of a piece of sushi. It was delicious; the fish is nice and fresh and everything else balanced so perfectly.

"Your sushi is really good." I said to Leo and took a sip of tea.

"Thanks, but I had help." He said. "Master Splinter knows how to make them, I just learned from him."

"The fact that you tried to make this, I give you credit for and it's so good." I said smiling.

"Yeah, well…thanks." Leo said and blushed a little.

I took a bite of my sushi and changed the subject, "So what made you decide to have our date here, Leo?" I asked.

He swallowed his food. "Well, I think that the beach is peaceful at night. The waves hitting the shore, the moon and stars reflecting in the water, it all flows together in serenity and beauty. Out here, I sometimes forget about all the fighting and the saving, not knowing when I'll ever see this again or if this will be the last time. That's why I brought you here, to share this place with you; if you ever feel upset or sad, this will be a getaway from everything."

"_My Gods, he really loves this place."_ I thought looking over the horizon. I looked at him and smiled, "I feel honored that you brought me here; this beach is amazing."

He chuckled. "Of course. Do you have somewhere to escape to in your world?"

"Yes, but not as beautiful as this beach. I got to a far off area of the forest near the palace; it's hidden by a rock tunnel that's covered in vines, pass it you can see a giant waterfall that makes a pond, and it's covered with grass, trees, and wildflowers. For a while I would sleep there so I built a small house whenever I like staying."

"So in a way it's your home away from home." Leo said.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that."

Leo clears his throat, "And is Earth your home away from home?"

"Well, staying with you all has been wonderful; meeting you guys, Master Splinter, April, and Casey has been great. You all are so kind, strong, and funny that makes me feel like I am home. In heart, I know that Earth, New York, is my home away from home." I said to Leo, looking at him straight in the eye, and I mean all that I told him and he knows it too.

He smiled at me. "I am happy that you like it here so much, Verena. New York isn't so bad once you get used to it."

"You and your family are living proof of that statement, Leo." I said. "New York is amazing, but it's so noisy."

"To me nothing beats the sound of cars horns and subway trains." He said.

I couldn't help but laugh and Leo soon was laughing. I can't believe how much I was laughing at what Leo said. Not that it wasn't funny, but it was cute. In fact some of the things that he says are cute; he is sweet, a little shy, but is a caring turtle. Leo just makes my entire body sore when he makes me smile and that's what I really like about him the most.

We finished our meal after we calmed down. It was nice and quiet as we heard the waves coming in; the beach is truly relaxing at night. The water looked really refreshing. I got up and took of my shoes, deciding to put my feet in the water. Walking over the sand felt cool and soft between my toes, it reminded me of the sand in Kennistar, but here it's looser. Once close enough, I lifted my dress and put my foot in the water as it came up; a chill shot through my entire body, but after a second I put my other foot in. My feet feel so good as the water came up wetting them, it was nice and cool especially after wearing the shoes. I closed my eyes to take it all in: the soft breeze, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the waves, and the water covering my feet. For once, my mind feels at peace.

Leo's P.O.V.:

I sat there and watched Verena standing in the water; she looked calm and collected. Being here with her so far has been great; we were talking, laughing, having a blast at the beach. After a moment, I got up and walked near her, wanting to feel the water too; then I decided to have some fun with this opportunity being in the water. I got close enough to her and I could feel the water on my feet, it felt really cold. With her eyes closed, I bent down and splashed some water on her face; she opened her eyes and looked at me as I looked the other way, pretending that I didn't do anything. I turned my head back to her direction and felt water hit my face; my eyes looked at her and she looked the other way with a sheepish grin.

"_You are so going to get it."_ I said to myself and cupped more water into my hands.

Verena saw me coming and splashed more water at me with her water-bending. "Nice try, Leo."

I whipped my face, "Oh yeah?"

A second later I was chasing Verena trying to catch her. She is really hard to get a hold of for two reasons: one was because of her increased agility and two she was splashing water at me each time I got close. I finally caught her in my arms from behind and spin around a few times; we were laughing so hard that I almost lost my grip. I stopped spinning, but then as I'm putting her down a wave hits us and knocks us down on the sand. We sat up and I looked at Verena, her dress and hair is almost soaking wet; I thought she was going to be mad at me, but instead she just laughs. I started to laugh along with her when we both realized how we acted like a couple of kids, being silly and splashing at each other.

I helped Verena up and we walked to the blanket to dry off. We had the rest of the tea to warm up our bodies from the cold water and it was nice and hot down my throat. Verena stared at me and I quickly stared at her, then she started to giggle.

"I haven't had that much fun in a long time." She said.

"Really, you thought that was fun?"

"Hey, don't blame me you started it."

"Well, you still splashed water on me."

"I saw an opportunity and I took it. Besides you weren't quick enough to jump the gun."

"Yeah, no kidding. You wet me so many times when I got near you."

"What can I say, I'm that good." She said with a grin on her face.

"Just wait until next time, I went easy on you." I said to her.

"Sure you did, Leo." Verena said with a smart tone in her voice.

Honestly, I couldn't think of anything to say back. After we finished the tea, we lied down on the blanket looking up at the sky, seeing all the stars. The night was so still that it seemed everything has stopped dead in its tracks; no worries, no bad guys to take down, no danger, the whole world was peaceful. It almost seems like you can reach up and touch the sky; the stars were so close, but then they are far away. A turtle could get use to this view, well that's what I think anyway. Verena must have seen countless skies throughout her life. The way that she had described her life, it sounds like she has been everywhere. I thought of something that I have been meaning to ask her, but kept forgetting.

I turned my head to look at her, "Verena."

She turns her head towards me, "Yes, Leo."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes. What is it?" She said to me in a warm tone.

"Why did you want to be a warrior?" I asked.

Verena took a deep breath. "The same reason as anyone would, to protect my people. To me being a warrior isn't about the glory that you receive, it's about having the honor for the things that mean the most. A warrior is someone that is willing to sacrifice for the ones that they love, even if it means their life. I am a warrior because it is my duty to keep the Yin Code alive, it demands three important parts to a life of peace: balance, justice, and honor. This code represents what a warrior in my world is, we are peacekeepers of our planet and we honor those that came before us. If one day I fall in battle with the Yin Code at my side, then that's the way I want it to be. As long as my people, my family, and loved ones can be safe from harm then that is good enough for me.

"Woah." I was stunned at how much this one person was willing to give up in order to save everyone else. _"And here I thought I was the only one that would give up their life for others." _I thought to myself as I sat up and looked down at her, "You are a very noble woman Verena. The way that you would sacrifice yourself for others, it shows a lot of courage and affection. You give your people hope to keep striving for what they believe in and you give them strength to keep fighting to maintain peace in your world."

Verena sat up and smiled at me, "You are too kind, Leo, but I'm not the only one like that."

"What do you mean?" I asked with a confused look.

"You and your family are the same way. All of you are willing to help each other when one of you is hurt, no matter what the cost. I have seen it in all of you and you have helped me through my problems; you led me out of the dark and into the light when all hope seemed lost. You give me the strength to keep moving forward and that's what you all inspire in others to be helpful to those that need it." She said with pride in her voice.

I chuckled to myself and smiled at her. "Thanks Verena."

"No problem."

I looked at the ocean and saw the tide coming in, "We should get going."

She nodded. "Alright."

We both get up, put everything back in the basket, folded the blanket, and started to head back.

30 Minutes Later…

We walk inside the Lair trying to be quiet as much as possible. It was dark and no one seemed to be around; they must be all be asleep. I set the stuff down on the table and escorted Verena to her room. We get there and stopped in front of her door. This is the moment that I have been waiting for and the one time that I wanted to say something I got nothing.

"Thank you for this evening Leo. I had a great time." Verena said with a soft smile.

"You're welcome." I said returning a smile.

I took her hand and pulled her into a hug. She felt so warm and soft compared to my rough, cold skin. My heart is pounding so fast that I thought she could feel it through my chest. I felt Verena lift her head and we started to look deep into each other's eyes. Her hands went from around my neck to my shoulders like a feather brushing your skin, soft and light. My arms tightened around her waist and I moved my left hand up and caress her cheek. I felt her hand do the same to my cheek. She started to move her head forward towards mine; is she doing what I think she's doing? I am so nervous that I just stand there and take whatever she is going to do. Her lips touched my skin, kissing my cheek. I loosened my arms and looked at her in shock when she pulled away; my hand was touching my cheek, rubbing my skin as I blushed.

"Goodnight, Leo." Verena said and walked into her room.

"Goodnight." I said while she looked back and smiled, then closed the door.

I walked to my room and put a hand to my chest, feeling my heart beat. "Be still." I said to it trying to calm down.

I opened the door and walked inside. As I walked to turn on the light I heard something move; I flicked the light switch on and saw my brothers standing there, with big grins on their faces.

"Welcome back bro." Donnie said.

"Hey guys." I said smiling at them. "Were you waiting for me the whole time?"

"You better believe it." Mikey said.

"So, how was your date?" Raph asked putting an arm over my shoulder.

"It was nice. Verena and I had a great time together." I said in a short answer.

"That's it? Nothin' else?" Raph asked.

I started to feel my face get warm, "You mean besides her kissing me? No, not really."

"She kissed you?!" They all shouted with surprised looks.

"Yeah… on my cheek." I said rubbing the back of my neck.

"And…" Mikey said.

I was confused. "And what?"

"How do you feel?" Donnie asked.

I thought about it for a moment and smiled at them, "Amazing."

One Hour Later…

Verena's P.O.V.:

A little bit after I said goodnight to Leo, I grabbed my nightgown and robe and took a shower. As much as I love seawater, I love hot water even more; my skin felt so good after the salt had washed off. I used my body wash, rubbing it all over my skin until the whole bathroom smelled like cherry blossom. After I was done, I put on my clothes and went back to my room. It was nice and quiet as I sat on my bed, then I fell on my pillow looking at the ceiling. Tonight was so wonderful, Leo made everything on our date so perfect. My heart fluttered when he held me in his arms, I could feel the warmth of his soul on me. When I kissed his cheek, I felt an energy being released from my soul, knowing that it felt so right. I looked at the lotus flower on my desk in a tiny vase filled with water, smiling at his gift.

"Sweet dreams, my handsome turtle." I got under the covers and closed my eyes for a good, deep sleep.

**Finally! What do you think? I did the best I could to come up with a date for these two. Again, I hope that I did 2003 Leonardo proud. The reason I chose the beach is because I think the beach is so romantic for anything so to me it sounded like a great idea, but I'll let you be the judge of that. Oh, the song from earlier was "Oxygen" by Colbie Caliat and I put it in here because I thought it was a cute song. I will try my very best to post more chapters soon. Any and all ideas or thoughts are always welcomed. R&R. Until next time:)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello hello hello! Thank goodness I'm finally on Spring Break so now I had the time to type up this chapter. I hope you all are enjoying the story so far, but any and all suggestions or ideas are welcomed. Like always, I do not own TMNT, only my OC's. Enjoy:)**

Chapter 10: Ambush

Leo's P.O.V.:

I got up early this morning feeling energized and eager to see Verena after our night out. The guys had wanted to ask her how it went last night, but she fell asleep after her shower so they decided to wait after she wakes up. As I was waiting, I made myself a bowl of cereal and decided to meditate for a while. It was easy to focus in meditation, even though I have other things on my mind; with it I couldn't let anything cloud my mind, everything had to flow with peace and silence. Feeling each breath run through my body like water in a stream. Having complete control of body and mind, heart and spirit. Nothing in the world is going to break my concentration.

Suddenly, I felt a familiar presence near me, but I didn't want to look or I'll break my focus. This presence felt warm, mature, honorable, and kind; whoever it was is sitting across from me. I could feel their spirit flow near mine; it almost feels like a soft breeze. Without a second guess I know who it is.

"_Hey Verena."_ I thought to myself.

"_Hi Leo."_ She said in my mind.

"_What the shell?!" _I was taken back that she can hear me.

"_Relax. Do not be afraid, this is common during my meditations." _Verena said to me.

"_It is?"_

"_Of course. Master Splinter and I do this through most of our meditation sessions. I felt that it would be best to share this with you."_

"_Can anyone just do this?" _I asked.

"_Not exactly. The thing is you either have to have years of training for this or you have to be psychic like me."_

"_And you can speak to anyone?"_

"_Only if they allow me to. Like you Leo, you are familiar with my presence and given me the chance to talk through our minds. So now if we meditate, you can communicate with me. Does that make sense?" _She asked.

"_Yeah, it does."_ I said taking a deep breath.

"_Good. Now that you know I should leave you to the rest of your meditation."_

"_You don't have to leave, Verena. Join me."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes. Please, stay." _

"_Well… alright."_

The dojo became silent again. I could hear Verena breathing as we focused, getting lost in our minds.

Later That Evening…

Verena's P.O.V.:

It was nice being on patrol with the guys again, but they told me that tonight we were going to do a training exercise. I'm trying to think about what it could be. All my curiosity makes me run faster, I don't know why, but I look back and I left the guys far behind me. I really need to learn how to control that. We jump a few more buildings and then we stopped.

"Alright guys, the exercise tonight is to test our stealth and invisibility." Leo said.

"Or as we like to call it…" Raph started.

"Hide 'n' Seek." Mikey finished.

"Hide 'n' Seek?" I ask.

"We figure that you would want to do something fun." Donnie said.

"And since this is ya first time, Mikey will be it." Raph said.

"Aww. No fair." Mikey said pouting.

"So what, Mikey counts and we hide?" I ask.

"That's right, but we hide throughout the city to make it more challenging." Leo said and he looked at his younger brother, "Okay Mikey start counting."

"Okay." He sighed and counted, "One. Two. Three…"

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm going to go." I whispered walking away, and Leo grabbed my hand.

"Just be careful." He whispered.

I squeeze his hand, "I will." I let go of his hand, "Good luck guys."

Taking a deep breath, I started to run and jumped off the building. I am looking all over the city, trying to find a good hiding spot; this is harder than it seems. Hide 'n' Seek was something that me and my sister would play when we were little, but to play it for training is kind of interesting. I finally find a giant sign to hide behind, in the shadows and it was near the docks. There is no way that Mikey will find me here. As I was waiting I felt something odd near me, it was cold and dark; almost feeling familiar to me. I put a hand on Timaeus's handle, waiting for whoever it was to appear. It's too quiet and I do not like it one bit. A moment later I stepped out of the shadows to look around and heard something move.

"Mikey?" I said.

No answer.

I was getting nervous. "Mikey?"

No answer. Another noise came from behind me.

I pulled out Timaeus, "Guys, if this is your idea of a joke it's not funny."

A dark figure appeared in front of me and others were on top of the sign.

"Guys?" I walked closer and the figures started to glow, "What the-"

Before I can say something, a bolt of lightning came towards me. I back-flipped, missing it just in time. They are definitely not the guys, but who could it be? I know those Foot Ninja don't have that kind of power, not even the Purple Dragons have it. But if it's not any of them, then who- No! No, it can't be. It can't be. My heart is racing just thinking about it. The only people that I know can do that are my people, and there is only one group that would want me dead. Those blasted Dark Benders found me.

The one in front chuckled as he appeared, "Well, well, well. What have we here? A lady caught off her guard?" His skin is pale like the moon, his eyes glowed red, and he is muscular all over.

I tightened my grip on Timaeus, "Not likely."

He smirked, "You seem to be doing well here, my dear. Oh, but wait, you have done nothing but hide here on this dull rock while your people suffer."

"That's not true." I said angrily at him.

Isn't it? You come and stay here like a coward instead of facing your people. They will all perish because of you." He said.

"You're lying." My hands were starting to shake.

"Aww, I think the little princess is scared. Are you going to cry to your mother and father? Oh wait, that's right, they are not here to protect you: a sorry, weak child that is nothing more than a poor excuse of a princess."

"Shut up!"

"To think with you here, everyone on Kennistar will be slaughtered. Their blood staining the ground, corpses perfuming the air, yes, it will be beautiful. And do you know the best part of it all? Your weak parents, sister, and grandfather will die because you couldn't save them."

"That's it!" I can't take it anymore.

I made a light orb and threw it near them. In a second they were blinded by my light magic; a Dark Benders great weakness is the light. With their eyes shut I started to attack, sending their sorry hides to the ground. I'm starting to get the upper hand until their leader tries to slice me with his axe, so I started to block his attacks. We were holding our ground and he blew powder in my face making my eyes burn. I was trying to rub it off when I felt a punch on my face and fell to the ground. I get back up, but I still can't see; I heard footsteps coming from my right and kicked them in the chest. Another one came to my left and took my arm, I elbowed him in the face and flipped him on his back; two charge at me from my left and right, and I jumped and did a split kick. My eye sight came back, I can see everything clearly and I can see them all on the ground except their leader.

"Is… that… all… you got?" I said panting, trying to catch my breath.

"My dear," He had a big grin on his face, "I'm just getting things started."

I see him taking out a black gem and whispers a spell into it. The gem started to glow black all around and rocks started to come together, forming a giant man-like figure. It stood about eight feet tall and had big arms; a head came together and the eyes were red. The monster that formed is a golem, not like the ones here; Kennistar's golems are very strong and are almost impossible to take down. This golem, however, was enchanted by Black Magic, which means double the difficulty. I need help. Reaching on my belt I pulled out the Shell Cell Don gave me to call them, but the golem shot a rock through it and it shattered to a bunch of pieces. It roared to the sky, echoing through the city, and looked at me.

I pulled Timaeus close to me, "Bring it you overgrown statue."

The golem charged at me, its fists in the air as they came down to crush me, but I jumped back missing them. It swung an arm and I blocked it with Timaeus, but I didn't see his other arm and it grabbed my leg and threw me on the chimney of another building. I groaned in pain and got back up to my feet, but the golem punched my stomach and I fell to the ground. Its master just stood there and grinned like a cat eyeing a bird. I gathered my light magic into an orb and hit it, but it didn't work. Instead it grabbed my arms when I tried to hit it again and the light shot up into the sky; it threw me back and forth, lifted me up and punched me down on the roof.

"_I hope the guys saw the light."_ I thought to myself as I'm being lifted up.

Leo's P.O.V.:

"Found you Leo." I heard my youngest brother from behind me.

"Good job Mikey." I said looking at him and the others.

"Thanks!"

"Now you just have to find Verena." Donnie said as we turned to get going.

Suddenly we heard a loud sound that spread through the entire city. It was something that we have never heard before; no way that could have been a normal animal, especially with a noise as loud as that was. We looked at each other and around to see where it came from, but it faded. A bright light soon was shooting in the sky right behind us near the docks.

"What the shell is that?" Raph asked.

Donnie pulled out his Shell Cell and dialed a number, "Verena isn't answering and her phone seems to be disconnected."

"You don't think…." Mikey started to worry.

"_I hope not."_ I thought to myself and looked at my brothers, "Come on." I said and we headed in that direction, _"Please be okay, Verena."_

Verena's P.O.V.:

"You blasted golem!" I yelled at it, slashing it with Timaeus, "Be a good mountain and go down."

Just as I'm going to stab it in the center, it grabs my throat and chokes me. I start to lose my breath as the golem tightens the grip around my neck. The Dark Bender looks at me with a giant grin, pleased by his pet's action. I'm looking around to see what I can use and spot a bucket of water; I lifted my arm and use my water-bending to form a spear to shoot at the golem's hand. I aimed and shot it, going through its arm, disconnecting it from the rest of the body; it roared in pain and I fell on my back catching my breath. This golem wasn't happy and neither was its master, yelling at it to finish me off. I am slowly getting on my knees to get up, but the Dark Bender hits me with his lightning; the bolt was stinging and burning my body as I scream from the energy of it. He kept on doing it until the golem was behind him, waiting for his command. My body is in so much pain, and my skin burned from the shock; I can't get up and I stare at both of my attackers. The golem was going to stomp me until something pushed it back so hard that it fell on its hide.

I look up and see four familiar figures, "Guys?" They turned their heads and it was them, "Guys!" I am so grateful to see them.

"You okay Princess?" Raph asked with his sais out.

I nodded, "I'll be alright." I tried to get up and I felt Mikey put my arm over his shoulder, lifting me up.

"Verena, what is that thing?" Donnie asked backing away from the giant brute.

"It's a golem. An enchanted rock creature that has extreme strength, they are very difficult to destroy, and this one is made from Black Magic." I let go of Mikey.

The Dark Bender chuckles, "You are very observant, my dear. Such a shame to have my pet hurt you, but as they say good things must come to an end." He pulled out his axe.

"Who are you?" Leo demanded my attacker with an angry tone.

"Isn't it obvious? I am an old friend of hers." He said giving an evil grin.

"_Yeah right."_ I thought to myself putting Timaeus away. "What is it that you want from me?" I demanded.

"Tis not I that want you, but then again that can change. In fact, you do not need me to tell you the answer that you seek, but rather if your freaks right here will make it." He was talking about the guys.

I got angry, "You leave my friends out of this. They have done nothing to you or your clan."

"That tis not my problem." The Dark Bender said.

"Oh it will be. You will not threaten my friends or harm them, not when I am here." I said giving him an evil look.

His face went from sly to mad, "You would dare threaten me? I am your worst nightmare. As long as I live you will not live to see your sorry family ever again."

"That's enough!" Leo yelled at him. "Don't you ever, EVER, yell at her."

"You mess with her, you mess with us." Raph said.

"Got that right." Mikey said.

"Diddo." Donnie said.

They all surrounded me for my protection. I am so shocked, "Guys… I-I…"

The moment was over when we heard the Dark Bender laugh, "Isn't that sweet. Oh well, as I say: the family that stays together, dies together." His hand turns black and the golem came forward. "Finish them my pet. Let us see how skilled you really are."

The golem had his fist raised and slammed it down almost crushing us. Luckily we jumped out of the way, and I countered with my earth-bending, binding its legs to not move, but its master hit me with a lightning bolt and the golem broke free. I fell to the ground and the guys surrounded me while fighting the golem. Leo's helping me up and we soon see the other Dark Benders surrounding us.

"Great, more creepy guys." Mikey said.

"Uh, how do you normally handle this back home?" Donnie asked.

I looked at all of them and their leader and gave him a grin, "Like this." I lifted my hand and shot a light in the sky, blinding them, except the guys. "Get them while they cannot see."

We were attacking the Dark Benders with all that we had. Their bodies falling to the concrete below or on the roof. Most of them were out cold until the golem slapped us from behind, scattering us; Donnie and Mikey were on one roof, Leo on another, and Raph and I were together. That golem maybe big, but it can really hit; its strength is so strong that it could crush your bones with one slam.

I saw Raph get up and was going to help me when the Dark Bender and the golem showed up. He turned back to them and attacked the golem with his sais, stabbing and slicing it, but not penetrating its rock solid skin. My body felt numb, but I manage to lift myself up, sitting up. I look at Raph, fighting, but my eyes soon went to the Dark Bender, who was charging his lightning in his hands. That mad-man's going to kill him with that shock. I gathered all my strength, got up, and ran to Raph, praying that I get there in time. The Dark Bender released his lightning, but I push Raph out of the way and the attack went to me. I scream in pain, the lightning pierced my body all over and it was eating me alive.

Raph turned and looked at me, "Verena! NO!" I heard him yell.

Everything started to burn. My skin had marks all over from the lightning and my heart started to race. I wanted to hug my body and take this horrible pain away. The Dark Bender gave me a wicked grin as he continued to shock me, increasing the power. It made me scream louder than before. I turned my head to Raph and soon the others came to him, their mouths and eyes widened.

"VERENA!" I heard Leo yell, but I couldn't see.

The pain is getting worse. I can't take it any longer. If I give up this Dark Bender will get the satisfaction that he wants and I won't allow it. I raised my hands and focused my mind, creating a force field that made the lightning bounce back at him. It was a relief to stop him, but I fell back to the ground, clenching my body together. The guys ran to me, worried about my condition. They were so busy on me that the golem came up from behind ready to strike. I took out Timaeus, pushed the guys out of the way, and stabbed the beast in the heart. The light from my sword drained away the darkness in the golem until it was nothing more than an empty husk.

I look over and see the guys fighting the Dark Bender. From the looks of it they were trying to kill him. He was super fast and pushed the guys at each other. I see him run towards the guys with his axe raised and I blocked his attack with Timaeus; with enough force I disarm him and punch him in the face. He looked at me so angry.

"This isn't the last you've seen of us." The Dark Bender said backing up. "Do you hear me?! This is not over!"

I put Timaeus away and ran to him. With all my strength I jump and kick him a few times in the chest until he fell off the roof. There was no scream, no sound, no sign of him or his goons anywhere. I took a deep breath knowing that it was over, for now at least.

"Verena?" I heard Mikey call me, "You okay?"

I had my hand on my forehead as everything all around was blurry and my body was weak, "I'm… fine…"

My eyes shut and I black out. Not long after I open my eyes and I feel someone holding me. It was Leo as I look up at him with the guys in back. I raise my hand and put it on Leo's cheek. His hand soon met mine on his face. My body began to go numb and I shut my eyes, giving into exhaustion.

Two Hours Later…

Leo's P.O.V.:

We've been waiting outside Don's lab for a couple of hours now. After Verena passed out, I carried her all the way back home. Mikey was able to find her broken Shell Cell so Don can repair it, but it'll have to wait until she is healed. We were starting to get worried about Verena, especially me. I am such an idiot. Master Splinter had told us to never leave her alone when we went topside and that's exactly what we did. Now look where she is, lying on Don's table all because of me. It should be me there not Verena; I'm the leader and I couldn't even follow sensei's rule. When she wakes up, I have to apologize big time.

The lab door opened and Donnie came out. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. I can tell that he was tired from whatever he did to Verena, and I can't blame him. It must have been that bad to take that amount of time.

"How is she Donatello?" Master Splinter asked.

Donnie looked to the door and back at us, "Verena's torso was burned pretty bad by the lightning, so I cleaned and wrapped it; her other injuries were just cuts and bruises. For now, she needs rest and a whole lot of it."

"But if those were her only injuries then how come it took ya so long?" Raph asked.

"Her body was too weak. If I had treated her right away, it would have harmed her even more. I waited until she had more strength in her system before I did anything." Donnie said calmly.

"_Thank goodness you're alright."_ I thought to Verena, taking a deep breath.

Everyone's silent. We are not sure what to do, but the only thing that I'm worried about is Verena. I can sense it in the others too.

"Can we see her Don?" Mikey asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, but not until we put her in her room. I think she'll feel better there than on the table." Don opened the door, "Come on."

All of us follow him inside to see her, but when we get there I stop. The sight of her covered in marks from her neck down to her arms and the bandages had started at her chest and ended to her hips. I feel horrible. Master Splinter put a hand on my shoulder to help me keep it together. I took a deep breath and joined the guys. Verena isn't moving; the only thing you see her dos take deep breaths. We looked to Donnie so he can tell us what to do.

"Okay, everything seems to be good so we can move her now." Don said.

"I'll carry her back to her room." I told them.

They nodded in agreement.

I went around the table. Don nodded, giving me the okay to pick her up. I slowly put my arms under her body and lifted her up. Once I had her secured in my arms we started to walk. Verena's breathing is slow and I can feel her breath on my skin. It was nice and warm. We get to her room and I lay her down on the bed carefully. I put the covers on her after she is settled. The room was so still and all we could hear is her breathing.

"Come, my sons, we must let Verena rest." Master Splinter said, but looked at me, "Leonardo?"

I looked at them, "I wish to stay with her for a while. With your permission, sensei?"

"Very well." He said.

"If you need anything, we'll be out here." Don said.

"Okay." I said and they left us alone.

With the door closed I looked back at Verena. I didn't take my eyes off her as I sat on the bed. She was breathing softly and with each breath her chest moved up and down. My gaze went from her to the des, seeing the flower that I gave her in a vase. I'm happy that she kept it. The lotus flower is a big part of Buddhism, it symbolizes our rebirth. It is said that we are born into suffering, the past experiences; if we banish the evil thoughts from our minds then we can break free from our pain. I gave her a white lotus flower because it is a symbol of purity of the mind and spirit. Verena is full of life and her soul is as pure as light. If there's anyone besides my brothers and sensei that can get through anything, it's Verena. She's strong, caring, a powerful warrior, and a beautiful girl. I look back at her and took her hand gently into mine.

"Hi…Verena." I rub my thumb on her skin, "It's me, Leo. I-I wanted to talk to you… alone. What happened earlier with that rock monster and those Dark Benders…I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I never meant to leave you, but I did. If you didn't shine the light into the sky, we wouldn't have found you in time." I shook my head and took a deep breath, "I feel so bad for all of this. I was told to not leave your side when we go to the surface, to protect you, but I couldn't even do that for you. It should be me all beaten up and lying on a bed not you. Verena, I promise that I won't let anyone hurt you again and I promise that I won't fail you. I will do whatever it takes to safe because I-I care about you." I squeezed her hand a little, "I wish I know if you can hear me."

A second after I felt my hand being squeezed lightly. It was Verena; she did hear me. I know she won't open her eyes, but I'm relieved that she responded back. Hopefully the danger is over and she can recover. I leaned to her and kissed her forehead, then I got up and covered her arms with a blanket so she won't get cold. I got to the door and look back, watching her sleep, and left shutting the door.

"Hey." I look to see Raph near the door.

"Uh, hey." I said as we stood there, "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough." He said putting a hand on my shoulder, "You okay bro?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I looked down at the floor.

Raph sighed, "Look Leo, I know you feel like this is your fault, we do too, but ya can't think like that around her. You have ta believe me when I tell ya that it's not your fault. She's safe from those goons." I look at him, "Ya did what you could and I think ya know it too bro."

"_He's right."_ I thought, but I still feel bad. Raph smiled and I did back at him, "Thanks Raph."

We leave Verena's doorway and head to our rooms so we can all rest.

**There. Well, what do you think? I realized that these chapters are becoming more difficult to write and type down, but I don't mind a challenge. Please R&R and more chapters will be up soon. Until next time:)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello**** hello hello! Here is the next chapter and to be honest this one took me forever to plan out. Hopefully you all like it as much as I did planning and writing it. Like always, I do not own TMNT only my OC's. Enjoy:)**

Chapter 11: The Nightmare

Verena's P.O.V.:

"_Ugh. My head hurts." I rub my forehead and open my eyes, "Where am I?"_

_I awake to find myself in a white space. There is no sign of life anywhere. No doors. No windows. Nothing. Whatever this place is it cannot be good. I start to walk forward trying to find anything in here, but it seems like I'm not getting anywhere with the entire place looking the same. Why am I even here? Is this a trap? Have I been captured? What happened to the guys? I keep thinking of a bunch of questions until I see a giant brown door. It looked really old, almost like an antique door that I've seen on Earth a few times. I'm hesitant to open the door, not knowing what lies in wait for me behind it. It started to open by itself when I touch the handle; I look and see a flower in the center of the next room. Do I even dare? I have no choice and enter the room with the door shutting behind me._

_This room is dark and the only sign of life was the flower. I kneel to pick it up, but suddenly a strong wind blew at me and made the petals on the flower fly away. The flower withered and died. What does this mean? I look up and see that I have been sent to a new location, a familiar location, Kennistar. I am home again. Everything had seemed normal until the army came charging down from a hill with their weapons drawn. Are we under attack? I turn around and see hundreds of Dark Benders charging at them while others burn the fields until they were chard. How dare they come to my home and do this. I draw Timaeus ready to fight, but it disappeared in my hands. Now what? The army shoots arrows and their blasters at the Dark Benders, protecting me. I try to use my telekinesis to push them back, but it didn't work; I try using my earth-bending, it didn't work either. None of my magic works. How is that possible? One Dark Bender came at me almost slicing my throat, but I dodge and kick him to the ground. More of them started to surround me, trying to stab me with their swords and axes; I dodge every attempt and hit them away from me. I get hit in the back of the head with a blaster and fall on my knees, looking up at the Dark Bender that's ready to shoot. Out of nowhere a sword comes out of his chest and bleeds to death; the person that killed him was Archimedes. I am so happy to see him._

"_It is good to see you again, Your Majesty." Archimedes said with a relieved tone. _

"_I'm happy to see that you are safe," I said and had changed my mood, "but what is going on?"_

"_After we returned, I told your father what had happened and I'm guessing one of them heard everything and told Nathias. So he sent the Dark Bender army down here and attacked us." He stopped and killed one, slicing his head off. "Now that you are here we need to get you back to the palace."_

"_Agreed, but what about my family? Have you heard from them?" I ask._

"_We tried to contact them and haven't had a response." He said and handed me two blasters and a sword, "Take these; you're going to need them."_

_I strap the sword on my back and held the blasters, "Let's go!" I yell and run._

"_PROTECT THE PRINCESS!" Archimedes yells and the army yells back._

_We run through the field and get to the market place. The Dark Benders start to shoot and we run through. I shoot the blasters, hitting each Dark Bender on our sides while Archimedes slashed the ones in front. Not long after we got to the palace doors and go inside. It was quiet and dark. We walk farther in and I see the horror before me; all the guards were dead. Their blood covered the floor and most of their body parts were scattered. Whatever killed them isn't a Kennistarian or even a Dark Bender; no, it looks like the work of some force. I heard something move in back of me and Archimedes and it hissed. It came darting out as a dark cloud. I wanted to get a look at it, but Archimedes pulled my arm and we ran. That thing is hot on our trail and we run to the throne room, shutting the doors. I look around and there are no signs of a struggle anywhere; Archimedes stood next to me and I can tell from his expression that he doesn't know where they are. There was a giant bang on the door that made us turn around, weapons ready. The second bang made the doors fall off and the room filled with a black fog. I can't see anything, but I heard a scream. The fog faded and next to me was Archimedes, dismembered on the floor. I kneel down and can't believe that he is gone._

_I started to cry, "Archimedes. No, you can't be." The monster came back and I shut my eyes, "No! Stay away! NOOOO!"_

_I open my eyes and nearly have a heart attack. Archimedes disappeared. The whole throne room is gone. I was back in my room in the Lair. My room, however, is trashed, all my things are destroyed. I just hope that the guys are alright. Aloud noise came from outside and I went to check it out. The entire Lair is almost destroyed. Out of the rubble I see a hand pull out, a grey hand. I run over and help Master Splinter out, but it was too late, he died. There was grunting coming from the dojo and I head over there. Those Foot Ninja were attacking the guys and my family is here. Why? How did they get here? A man in a suit of armor came over and started to attack my mother and sister. I run over to help them, but the ninjas block me and attack. One by one I take them out, but I hear my mother and sister scream as that armored man slit their throats with his gauntlet, and they fell._

"_Mother! Liza! NO!" I yell and keep attacking._

_The armored man went to Mikey and stabbed him in the back. Mikey screamed and fell on his face._

"_Mikey!"_

_I tried to get to the others, but Hun stepped in my way and is punching me. He came and swung a fist, but I quickly grab it and twist his wrist and kick him to the floor. I jump over, but he grabbed my leg, holding me down. The same man went to Don, grabs him and breaks his neck. He was about to slice Raph, but my grandfather pushed him out of the way and died._

"_Grandfather! Donnie!"_

_Hun was pulling my leg more to him and I can't break free. The only ones left were my father, Leo, and Raph; I can't let anything bad happen to them. I see a staff on the floor, grab it, and whack Hun on the head. He loosened his grip and I kick him in the face and got up. The armored man was in back of my father, ready to stab him, but Raph ran in front and got stabbed in the chest._

"_Raph!"_

_My father saw me and we locked eyes. He is happy to see me as he smiled. We run to each other, but I stopped as the armored man is behind him. With one swing of his arm, he sliced off my father's head and it rolls on the floor._

_I scream and look at my fallen father. "Father!"_

_That armored man looked at me; his red eyes pierced through my heart. I'm terrified. I stood there in fear and cannot move. He charged at me, ready to stick his gauntlet in my chest, but Leo stepped in front of me. The gauntlet went through his chest, piercing his heart and fell to the floor on his shell._

"_Leo!" I held him in my arms, "Leo. You're going to make it." I said putting pressure on his wound with my hand and tears streamed down my face._

_I felt Leo's hand on mine as he breathed heavily, "Verena… I-I…"His eyes shut and his body was lifeless._

_I cried, "No. Please, Leo. Please don't leave me."_

_I heard a wicked laugh that belonged to the armored man. He killed everyone and now I am his last victim. This can't be real. It can't be. My friends and my family are dead because of me and nothing will bring them back. He was getting closer with his arm raised._

"_No! No!" I stare at him like I would with death, wide. He swung his gauntlet, "NOOOO!"_

Leo's P.O.V.:

I had a hard time falling asleep last night. All I am thinking about is Verena. I tossed and turned for hours and just looked up at the ceiling. Finally I decided to get up; at the very least I can do some meditating. I stretched out and sat on the floor, focusing my mind on my meditation. It is nice and quiet.

"AAHHHH!" I heard someone scream.

I open my eyes and got up.

"NOOOO!" I heard it again.

I know who it is. "Verena."

Not wasting any time I run to her room. Her screams were getting louder and I can hear them throughout the Lair. I get to her door and it's already opened. When I walk in, Master Splinter is sitting beside her trying to wake her up. Verena is tossing and turning on the bed, tears are streaming down her face; she's scared out of her mind. It has to be those nightmares that she had before, but I thought she made them go away. If it is it, then they gotten stronger. The guys soon ran in and stood next to me.

"What the shell is goin' on in here?!" Raph yelled looking at me.

"I think Verena's having another nightmare." I told him.

"A nightmare? But I thought she got rid of them." Mikey said.

"I guess not. From the look of her, it's gotten worse." Don said.

We look at sensei and hear him, "Verena, you must gather all your strength and come back to us."

"No! No!" She murmured and shook her head.

"Hear my voice and awaken, my child." He said holding her hand.

"NOOOO!" She screamed out and made us nervous.

"Awaken." Master Splinter said again.

Verena opened her eyes and gasped as she shot up on the bed. She's breathing really fast and looks at sensei with her eyes wide open. Sweat was falling down her forehead as were the tears from her eyes. We don't know what to do. I see Master Splinter wipe the tears on her face with his thumbs; she slowly looks at him and at us as her breathing slowed down. Sensei wraps his arms around her, carefully not hurting her. Verena didn't do anything but stare. Tears started to form in her eyes and she cries into Master Splinter's shoulder, hugging him tight and he rubbed her back. I wish I can comfort her, hold her in my arms, but sensei will probably have better luck with it. Why would these nightmares come back now? She was doing so well until this happened, but we'll have to check on it later; for now, Verena needs us.

I see her let go of Master Splinter and lies down on the bed. She turned to her side with her back to us; we guessed that she didn't want to look at us yet. Raph puts a hand on my shoulder so we can leave, but I waited for Master Splinter to come. After rubbing her head, he walks to me and we leave her to rest, alone.

In The Evening…

Verena's P.O.V.:

It was another nightmare, but this one felt so real. I have never had one that intense before and I seriously thought I was going to die. Not that I fear death, but I would rather die fighting than in my sleep. Before it would only be my family in it, but this time the guys and Master Splinter were in it. The weird thing about it all was the armored man that was there, having a killing spree; he didn't look familiar to me, but I bet the guys know who he is.

"The guys-" I started to cry again.

I haven't come out of my room all day because I was crying nonstop. How do you tell someone that they died in your dream? I didn't want to tell them, but I know I have to or I'll live with the pain until I snap. There's a knock at the door and I quickly dry my face of all my tears.

I took a deep breath, "Come in."

The door opened and the guys enter. Their facial expressions all showed the same thing: concern. It didn't surprise me that much when they get like that; I've been used to it. They sat on the bed and sighed. If I wasn't uncomfortable already, I certainly was now. I just don't want them to ask me about it.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mikey asked me.

I don't know how to answer so I stay quiet.

"Does anything hurt?" Don asked.

I shake my head, still not answering.

"Ya need to snap out of it Princess." Raph said in an angry tone.

I look up at him, then back down to my hands.

"Are ya gonna do what you did last time? Hide whateva you saw?" Raph was starting to get more upset and stood up.

"Raph stop it!" Leo yelled at him.

"I will when she tells us what happened." He said with an angry look.

I'm starting to get terrified as Leo stood up.

"She doesn't have to tell us!"

"Oh and I guess ya know what she's thinkin', huh Splinta Jr.?!"

"I know that she doesn't like being yelled at Hot Head!"

I can't listen to this, "STOP!" I didn't realize that I screamed at them until they looked at me. "Stop your bickering!" I started to cry again, "Please… just stop." I put my face in my hands, _"I have to get out of here."_ I used my psychic powers to turn invisible, got up and ran out of the room.

"Verena! Wait!" I heard Leo say.

I don't care at this point if the call me or not. Their fighting made me feel worse; they were arguing over something that happened to me, not them. How can I make them do that? I hate it when people fight, especially over me. If I had known that this would happen I would never had let them in. I run as fast as I can to go outside, to get away from the Lair.

Leo's P.O.V.:

"Verena! Wait!" I call to her, but got no response.

"Aw shell, I really blew it." Raph said looking down.

I put a hand on his shoulder, "We both did. Verena's scared more than she is already and we caused it."

"Dudes, we gotta find her." Mikey said with a worried look.

"Yeah, but with her being invisible it will be difficult to find her. She could be anywhere in the entire city." Don said.

I start to think of anywhere Verena would go to, like a building, alley, or…, _"Of course." _I realized where she went and look at the guys, "I know where she went."

"Where?" Mikey asked looking surprised like Don and Raph.

"The same place that we went to on our date."

"Well what are we standin' here for? Let's go!" Raph said.

"Raphael." We heard Master Splinter and he walked to us, "It would be best if you all do not go."

"But sensei-"

"Verena is overwhelmed with fear. The argument that you and Leonardo had made her panic and run away. If she sees all of you then she might believe that you are still angry and not come back. One of you must go." Master Splinter said and looked at me, "Leonardo, since you know where she has gone you will go."

I bow to him, "Yes, sensei."

"Be careful Leo." Mikey said.

"I will." I reassured him and left the Lair to find Verena. _"Please be okay."_

Verena's P.O.V.:

"_The breeze feels good." _I thought with my eyes closed.

I ran all the way from the Lair to the beach where Leo took me on our date. This place was the only thing I could think of to come to. It feels nice as I'm standing on the sand and I have been here for a while now. My mind needs to be relaxed. I don't want to leave and go back to the Lair; I'm afraid that Leo and Raph will argue again. Yet here I am, running away from the very thing that has been out of my system until now. I have had many nightmares in my life, but this one is hands down the worst one that I have ever had. All I want is for everything to be normal before the nightmares came back. I sigh and take in a deep breath, smelling the ocean.

"I knew I'd find you here." A voice said from behind me.

I turn around to see who said that. I gasp at the familiar form. _"Leo."_

He walked over and is standing in front of me, "Are you alright?"

I was about to answer him, but I can't. My eyes left his, starring at the sand. I could feel tears starting to form and I do not want him to look at me.

"Verena."

I could feel his hands on my cheeks, lifting my head up to look at him. Leo wiped my tears with his thumbs.

"Verena… I-I'm sorry." Leo said looking sad.

That look on his face made my heart hurt. I never meant to make him or his family feel this way. With this thought I can't help but break down and cry. I feel Leo's arms wrap around me tight and he rubbed my back; his arms feel so strong and warm. I can hear his heart beating as I try to calm down, focusing on the rhythm and sound. It's beautiful. The weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders in this moment. My breathing started to slow down and the tears began to ran dry; the sobbing soon after became silent. I let go of him and he did the same and I wipe the tears from my face.

"I'm so sorry." I said to him.

"For what?" Leo asked confused.

"I made you and Raph fight. You guys were arguing because of me and my horrible nightmares."

"Verena, it's not your fault."

"Yes it-"

"It's not your fault." Leo said putting his hands on my shoulders, "Look, the reason we were arguing was because we got worried about you. Raph and I should have known better not to yell in front of you, especially since you just had another nightmare."

I took a deep breath, "Leo, I know you and Raph have your arguments and I should have realized your concerns, but I didn't. I yelled at you guys and ran away, for that I apologize."

"And I'm sorry that we yelled." He said and wrapped his arms around me again.

I can't help but smile and hug him back. Leo helped me calm down. He comforted me and held me in his arms. I felt him look down at me as I look up, staring in his eyes.

"We should probably go back." I said to him.

"Whenever you're ready." Leo said smiling.

"_I have to." _I thought trying to give myself courage. I nodded, "Let's go."

Half an Hour Later…

"VERENA!" I heard the guys call me as soon as Leo and I walk in and they all gave me a group hug.

I giggled and their squeeze got tighter, "Guys… can't… breathe." I told them and they let me go.

"We're happy that you're back, Verena." Don said. "We got worried about you."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," Mikey said putting an arm around my shoulder, "even Raph was freakin' out."

"He was?" I look at him and I can sense the sadness in his heart.

"Yeah." Raph said looking upset, "Look, Verena, I-I want to apologize for-"

"Raph, stop." I said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "You owe me no apology, alright?"

He took a moment and nodded, "Okay. I'm glad ya came back."

"Me too." I said and see Master Splinter coming over.

"I am pleased to see you are safe." He said with a smile.

"Thank you sensei," I smile back, "but I think I should tell you what I saw."

Master Splinter looked at me closely, "Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Yes. I'm ready."

We all walk over to the living room. I sit on the couch with Leo and Raph between me, Master Splinter on the armchair, and Don and Mikey sat on the floor.

"_I can do this."_ I tell myself and begin to tell them about my nightmare.

Twenty Minutes Later…

The whole Lair is quiet. I told them each and every detail that went on in my nightmare and to be honest they looked completely freaked out. Their expressions made me worry a little bit. Master Splinter was deep in thought as the guys stayed silent. I'm keeping my composure as much as possible so they won't see how badly I want someone to say something.

Master Splinter looked at me, "Was there anything in this nightmare that you question?"

"Yes. The armored man seemed to know you all from the way he was fighting, and I was wondering if you can tell me who he is?" I look at them and they seem hesitant to answer, looking at each other.

"Verena, that armored man you saw is the Shredder." Don told me.

"Wait, the Shredder?" I couldn't believe it. "How could I dream of someone that I don't know, unless…"

"Unless what?" Mikey asked looking scared.

"Unless this wasn't a nightmare." I said thinking about it.

"Perhaps the nightmares that you have been having are visions." Master Splinter said.

"Yes, that what I was thinking." I agreed with him, "Whatever this dark cloud is it cannot be good. It destroys anything it touches and brings chaos wherever it goes, now it seems the Shredder is in on it. And…" I sigh and hold back my tears, "And because of me you all are dragged into it." I put a hand on my forehead and rub it.

"Do not blame yourself, my dear." Master Splinter said and I look at him, "You could not have known that these visions would occur during your stay. It is something that you cannot control."

"Yeah and we'll help ya out." Raph said.

"What?" I wasn't sure what he meant.

"Aw come on, you didn't think we would let you handle this on your own, did ya?" Mikey said.

"We're your friends. If one of us is in trouble we are all willing to help." Donnie said with a gentle tone.

"Guys. I-I don't know what to say." I am stunned.

"You don't have to." Leo said putting his hand on mine, "We're always here for you, Verena."

I smiled at all of them, "You all are the best friends that a princess can ask for."

"The way we see it, you're part of our family." Leo said and his brothers and Master Splinter nodded.

Tears began to flow, but I'm not sad I'm happy, "Thank you all."

They came together and gave me a group hug. I haven't felt this safe and comfortable in a long time and I will never take it for granted.

Later…

Leo's P.O.V.:

"_What does the Shredder want with Verena?"_ I asked myself this question since she told us about her nightmare.

I'm in my room trying to sleep, but I can't. I tried to read one of my books and I can't do that either. My mind is focused on Verena. The nightmare made her feel so helpless and scared and it sent a pain in my heart that she felt it. Not only that I'm angry that the Shredder is involved with this, but what can he gain from her? Money? Weapons? And that dark cloud too, what is it? A monster or something supernatural?

All of these questions were making me frustrated. Verena needs answers more than ever and we have to help her find them before it's too late. She is our friend and we can't abandon her, not now. I will never leave her to handle this on her own. I care for Verena so much and it hurts to see her in fear of something she can't control. We will do all that we can to figure out this nightmare and hopefully discover what it means.

"_I have to get up."_ I'm driving myself insane that I need to walk it off.

I leave my room and jump down to the lower level. Maybe watching a movie would help so I walk to the living room. It was quiet until I heard someone getting up from the couch. At first I thought it was Mikey that fell asleep during a movie marathon, but noticed the shadow was smaller. I get close enough, still not seeing who it is so I put my hand out, ready to tap them on the shoulder. Suddenly, I see the shadow whip around and grab my wrist; then I felt five fingers.

"Verena?" I ask to see if it was her.

"Leo?" I heard her voice and she stepped out of the dark to reveal herself. She let go of my wrist, "Sorry."

"It's okay." I said smiling.

"What are you doing up?" She asked.

"I couldn't sleep so I thought I come down here." I tell her rubbing my neck, but I realized why she is down here, "You can't sleep either?"

Verena shook her head, "No. I got nervous trying to so I figure I would watch a movie to calm down." She said holding a DVD up.

I read it, "Forrest Gump."

"Yes. I bought it when April and I went out and I've been meaning to watch it." She walked over to the DVD player to put it on and looked at me, "Would you like to watch it with me?"

"Sure." I grab a blanket as she put in the movie.

She sat on the couch and sees the blanket, "What is that for?"

I sit and spread it on our legs, "Just in case you fall asleep."

"Thank you." Verena smiled and I did the same.

The movie started after we got settled. I have seen this movie a few times before so I already know what to expect. Verena's eyes were so focused the whole time. To be honest, it's a good movie to get into; Forrest Gump is one of those movies that you like to keep following the story. The parts with Forrest and Jenny kind of remind me of Verena and I. Maybe it's because in the move, Forrest is as defensive of Jenny as I'm defensive with Verena, and Forrest loves Jenny despite all the things that has happened to her and what she has done and I care for Verena regardless of what's been happening to her. I slowly put my arm around her shoulder and she puts her head on mine. It was quiet the whole time and we didn't mind it. As the credits were starting I look at Verena and saw her sleeping; she must have felt calm enough to try and sleep. I pull the blanket with my other arm and rest my head on top of hers, finally able to sleep knowing she is safe and secure.

**Well, what do you think? I really hope you like it. The reason I chose Forrest Gump for this chapter was because whenever I get upset this movie always makes me feel better and I thought that it would be nice to have the characters watch it. The next chapter is going to be very special so hopefully you stick around to read it; I will do the best I can to have it up soon. R&R or PM me whenever you like. Until next time:)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello hello hello! Alright people here is the next chapter and I was super excited to write this one. In the last chapter I said that this one would be special and I would love to tell you why that is, but that wouldn't be fun would it? So you're just going to have to read it and see why. As fun as this chapter was, I had some inspiration for it, but I will tell you at the end of it. As usual, I do not own TMNT, but I will love them, I own my OCs. Have fun reading:)**

Chapter 12: Confession of the Hearts

A Few Days Later…

Verena's P.O.V.:

"Nothing feels different, sensei." I tell him meditating on my nightmare.

For the past few days Master Splinter has had me meditate every morning after I wake up from having another nightmare. At first I had a hard time maintaining my focus, but once he helped me ease my mind it was easier to control what I see. Besides that the guys have helped by talking over what I see and if there are any differences that can be spotted, but so far there hasn't been any. Either way it does help me a big deal so I won't keep it bottled in. However, as much as all of this helps, it feels like we are not getting any closer to solving this nightmare. I'm starting to get upset until Master Splinter came near me.

"Focus, Verena. Tell me, what do you see?" He asked gently.

"I-I see a light near the Shredder." I said keeping my focus on it, "It's floating pass him towards me."

"Please, continue."

"It's showing me something…" I try to look closer, "I-I can't make it out." It vanishes into thin air, "It is gone." I tell him opening my eyes and looking at him, disappointed with myself.

"Do not be upset, Verena, it will come again." He said putting a comforting hand on my shoulder, and his face looked curious, "Have you seen that light before?"

I thought about it and realize this is the first time noticing it, "No, not until this one."

"Hmm… whatever is in the light must be important." He said.

"Yes. Unfortunately we don't know what it is." I remind him.

"Then we must wait until you have it again."

I nod in agreement.

"Verena."

"Yes, sensei."

"There is something that I have been meaning to discuss with you." He said looking a bit cheerful.

"Oh? What about?" I ask him and I wonder what I did.

"I wish to discuss about you and Leonardo." He said.

"_Oh Gods."_ I thought and I feel my cheeks get warm.

"What are your feelings toward my son?" He asked looking at me closely.

I'm at a loss for words as he threw me off guard, "Well… I-I… um…"

"Do not be afraid of telling me, my dear. All I am asking of you is to be honest." Master Splinter said smiling.

"_Just tell him."_ I tell myself and take a deep breath, "Well, let me start off with saying that all of your sons are amazing and they are great warriors. However…," My heart started to race, "with Leo, I-I feel all these different emotions that I thought I would never have. He is a gentleman, strong, kind, patient; he makes me smile whenever I am sad or upset. We have a great time when we are together, whether we do anything or not. Leo can accept me for who I am and he likes me both on the outside and the inside, even if I am a princess; he likes me for me. Master Splinter…, I am in love with Leo, more than anyone will ever know; it doesn't matter if he's a turtle or not because I love him for who he is."

Master Splinter looks deep into my eyes and smiles, "My dear, there is no doubt in my mind that your love for my son is true. Your affection for Leonardo shows with every word that you speak of him. If you do love him then you should tell him how you feel."

I stand up as he turns to leave, "But Master Splinter, how do I-"

"Let your heart guide you, Verena." He said with a gentle tone, "When the time is right, you will know what to do." With that said, he left.

I stand there and take in all of what Master Splinter said. He is right. I had put my feelings for Leo on hold for too long. Since I came here to Earth I was so focused on my training, and then they all came along and made me part of their family. I always let my mind guide me, but this time I take sensei's advice into consideration; it's time to stop thinking with my brain and start thinking with my heart. I put a hand on my heart, feeling beat.

I ask it one question, "Does Leo feel the same way?"

I think back to all of the things that had happened. My first night here, when he let me sleep in his room, we were gazing at each other for a while; I feel that's when it all started. The times when the guys would tease him about me and he got very defensive and would blush too. When we talk we can go on forever on whatever it was we were talking about, almost like talking to an old friend in a way. When we hug or hold hands it feels like I'm ready to soar in the sky; his touch is always surprising each time. And finally our date, when he asked me I was so thrilled and when he kissed my hand it sent chills all over my body; the actual date itself was so romantic and wonderful the entire night and I kissed his cheek to show him my affection. With all of this thought out, I think I know the answer, but I have to wait until he tells me himself and I hope it's the answer that I feel.

3:00 PM…

Leo's P.O.V.:

After our training in the afternoon, my brothers and I talked to Verena about her nightmare again. I think it really helps her to talk about it each time she has it, but I know she wants to find an answer just as badly as we do. Today she discovered a light that had shown up for the first time, thanks to Master Splinter. The light came up to her and had something inside, but Verena couldn't get a better look at it. It's a start into finding out what it all means and how we stop the Shredder. She wanted to meditate more after our conversation and I told her I'll be by later.

Since then I was in my room, reading a little bit of my book on history. I close it after reading for five minutes and started to think about Verena. This whole week I have been focused on trying to help her get better, and the whole time I can feel myself having a deeper connection with her. Spending most of my time talking to her, training, and comforting her has made me see how much she really means to me. I saw Raph knock on the door and came in with Don and Mikey behind him.

"Hey, Leo! Whatcha doin'?" Mikey asked with his usual big smile.

"I was trying to read, but I couldn't concentrate." I told him.

"Why? Is it because of Verena?" Don asked, figuring out the answer.

I nodded, "Yeah." I got up and walk to them, "I can't help it. I love her."

"We all know ya do." Raph said putting his hand on my shoulder, "but the question is when are ya gonna tell her?"

I look down at my feet, not wanting to look at them, "I-I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong-"

"Hold up." Raph interrupted and shook me to look at him, "First off, you're an idiot if ya think she doesn't like you cause she probably does. Second, ya can't keep waitin' any longer, bro; what if one day ya wanna tell her and she's gone? It'll be too late; ya have to do it now."

I sigh, "I know, but I-"

"You're ready Leo." Don said giving me a comforting smile, "You always have been."

I'm starting to doubt myself.

"Leo, when you put your mind on something, you're unstoppable." Mikey said with a cheerful tone, "So why should Verena be any different?"

He had a point. _"Why was Verena different?"_

It's because this involved my feelings towards her, not a training exercise or plan. Maybe she doesn't see me the way that I do for her. I started to look back on all that I've done with her and realized that she might like me. All the talking, meditating, laughing, comforting, hugging, all those things and more can indicate signs of affection that I have shown and she showed them back. I think she does care for me, I don't know, but I know of a good way to find out. I look at my brothers, feeling more confident with this than I ever had before.

"I'll do it." I said smiling at them as my spirits lifted.

"What?!" They all said looking surprised.

"When?" Mikey asked all excited.

"Hopefully, tonight. You guys are right, I have to tell her while there's still time." I said.

Raph slapped my shell, "That's what I'm talkin' about. Alright!"

"We're behind you all the way, Leo." Don said putting his hand out.

Raph and Mikey soon put their hands on top of Don's. I put my hand on top of theirs and smiled.

"Thanks guys." I said.

In the Evening…

Verena's P.O.V.:

_Is this a dream?  
If it is please, don't wake me from this high  
I've become comfortably numb, until you opened up my eyes  
To what it's like when everything's right, I can't believe_

_You found me when no one else was lookin'  
How did you know just where I would be?  
Yeah, you broke through all of my confusion  
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave  
I guess that you saw what nobody could see  
You found me, you found me_

_So, here we are and that's pretty far  
When you think of where we've been  
No going back, I'm fading out, all that has faded me within  
You're by my side, now everything's fine, I can't believe_

_You found me when no one else was lookin'  
How did you know just where I would be?  
Yeah, you broke through all of my confusion  
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave  
I guess that you saw what nobody could see  
You found me, you found me_

_And I was hiding 'til you came along  
And showed me where I belong  
You found me when no one else was lookin'  
How did you know? How did you know?_

_You found me when no one else was lookin'  
How did you know just where I would be?  
Yeah, you broke through all of my confusion  
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave  
I guess that you saw what nobody could see  
You found me, you found me_

_You broke through all of my confusion  
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave  
I guess that you saw what nobody could see  
The good and the bad and the things in between  
You found me, you found me_

I sigh as I stop singing and I take off my black pumps, "That's better."

The whole day I was focused on meditating, trying to see what was in the light, but I still can't see it clearly. Sensei is right, whatever is in the light is important, but what is it? I'm hoping it's something good to use against this unknown force. I didn't focus on it though during my training earlier as I was learning katas for the first time; they were easy once I concentrated on each one, letting the energy flow. After, we had dinner and the whole time Leo and I were giving each other short looks; the guys to notice and made fun of us as usual, but I didn't really pay attention to their comments. When we were done eating, I cleaned the dishes and left to my room to relax and I've been in here ever since.

I kept looking at the clock on my desk, waiting for Leo to get here. I'm starting to get really anxious. My mind is staring to race all over as I am thinking of a bunch of negative things. What if he doesn't love me? What if he feels differently about me? Will our friendship be ruined? Ugh, I need to stop. This is ridiculous. Why am I thinking like this? I know deep down inside Leo will listen to what I have to say and whether he feels the same or not, we will always be friends. I hear a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Did I just ask that?

"It's me." I heard Leo's voice.

"Uh… just a minute!" I tell him as I stand up and put on my shoes. I run over to the mirror, fixing my hair, straightening my black corset, and brushing my white top and sky blue skirt of my dress. I take a deep breath, "Come in."

Leo walks in, "Hey."

"Hi." I greet him smiling.

"What were you doing?" He asked after he shuts the door.

"Oh, I… was just fixing myself up." I told him feeling a little embarrassed, blushing.

He chuckled and walked over, "Why would you do that? You are beautiful just the way you are."

I blush even harder, "Thank you." I walk to the bed and sit, "Care to sit down?" I ask motioning him to sit next to me.

He nods and sits next to me. "You know we didn't really see you after dinner, what have you been doing?"

"Just trying to relax, I think I did too much meditating for one day." I said.

"You're still trying to see what's in the light?" He asked.

"Yes. Every time I get close enough it vanishes."

"Don't worry, you'll see what it is soon, just be patient and it will come to you." Leo said putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I know. Thanks Leo." I said still smiling.

"No problem." He said smiling.

The room became silent. We stared at each other for a short moment and look away. I can't help but get nervous during this quiet game, this waiting around was making my pulse race. This is probably worse than dealing with Dark Benders for one reason: I wasn't facing against scum. I was facing someone that I truly care for, waiting for one of us to say something or make the first move. I had taken Master Splinter's advice earlier and now is the time to put it into action. I was ready to say something, but I saw Leo look at me with his beautiful brown eyes.

"Verena." He said breaking the silence, "I have to tell you something."

I look at him with my eyes widened and my pulse continuing to race. _"Just relax."_ My attention is all on him.

Leo took a deep breath, "Verena, um, the whole time that you have been here with us has been great. I mean you were able to accept all of us for who we are and didn't freak out. Through all of the training, meditating, injuries, you and I have had a special connection. When we talk to each other it can go on for hours when it feels like only a few minutes; our conversations are what I enjoy being with you because I don't have to be afraid to open up to you as you are so open with me." He started to move closer, "When we touch each other, I feel like everything is frozen and we are the only ones that can move; my heart skips a beat whenever I'm with you. The reason I feel this way is because I-I… love you. I love your smile, your laugh, the way your eyes sparkle in the light, your sense of honor, your whole personality just shines as bright as the sun. You are the only one that has ever made me feel this way and I love you so much." He finished putting a hand on my lap.

"_He does care for me."_ I thought smiling and so happy that my heart was right. I put a hand on top of his, "Leo, I-I have been wanting and longing to tell you how I feel about you. The truth is… I love you too. I always have and I was afraid to tell you, until now. When I'm with you, I don't feel like a princess, but a normal person. What I love about you is your strength, your compassion to others, your smile, your warmth; you make me feel so alive. When you hug me, my heart flutters and I feel like I can melt in your arms. All the times that you've comforted me you make me feel safe to be with you. I thought I would never feel this way, but you, Leo, you changed that." I stand up, "And I love you just the way you are, my handsome, caring ninja turtle, and I always will."

When I finish, we stare at each other taking in what each of us had said; our confession in loving each other. Leo got up and smiled lovingly to me as I did back at a loss for words. I feel his arm wrap around my waist and his hand caress my cheek. He moved his head forward, closed his eyes, and softly placed his lips to mine, kissing me. I stare at him for a moment and kept on thinking if this was all a dream or not, but it isn't, this is real; this moment is real. I close my eyes and kiss him back.

I move my hands to his shoulders, gripping them gently as he his wrap on my waist. The kiss began to deepen as I wrap my arms around his neck and he moved his other arm around my waist. Suddenly, he lifted me from the floor and laid me on the bed, not breaking our kiss; he rubbed my sides and it sent small shivers from his warm, soft touch.

Leo started to kiss my cheek all the way down to my neck; I close my eyes as I'm loving the feel of his warm lips on my skin. His kissed all over my neck and I gasp as he is sucking on my pulse, licking it gently and I started to moan quietly. He chuckled as I lift my head for him to have room as he continued to lick my pulse.

Leo came back up to my lips and we kissed again, full of love. I open my mouth and he slowly moved his tongue into my mouth, making our bodies hot and shiver. His tongue touching mine is soft and thick as I moaned a little louder. I put a hand on his shoulder and pull him in closer as his tongue moved farther in my mouth.

I move my lips from his mouth to his neck. He lifted his head so I can have more room as I planted kisses all over. My lips find his pulse and I slowly began to suck on it making him moan in pleasure. I press my tongue on his pulse and lick it softly and he moaned more. I stop and place my lips back to his, moving my hand behind his head to deepen the kiss.

Leo wrapped his hand behind my head and rubbed my thigh with the other that made me giggle at the soft rub. I feel him open his mouth and I push my tongue in his mouth, reuniting with his tongue. He moaned louder into my mouth that made my lips vibrate with his and the gap between us began to close as we hugged each other close.

I feel Leo's lips slowly pull away from mine. We stare at each other for a moment and I felt his hand rub against my side making me sigh, loving his touch. I started to blush a little and he smiled and chuckled.

"How was that?" Leo asked keeping his smile.

I hug him, "It was perfect."

He smiled and gave me a long, loving kiss.

"You do realize that your brothers are going to be making fun of you more, right?" I remind him smiling.

"Well if it means being with the girl that I love then I don't mind it." He said caressing my cheek.

I place my lips on his for another long, deep, loving kiss. "So… what do we do now?" I ask as he got up from me.

Leo thought for a moment and looked at me, "How about a movie?" He asked smiling.

I sit up and smile at him, "Okay." I take his arm, "I'll see you in a little bit." I said as he pecked my lips and left my room.

Leo's P.O.V.:

I can't believe it. I finally get to be with the girl that I love. This is one of the best days of my life. My brothers were right the whole time and I really owe them one. As I grab a blanket I hear the TV go on and I see Verena in her nightgown waiting for me, smiling lovingly at me. If a heart can soar into the sky then that's what mine is doing, looking at her, loving every single curve and shape of her. I lie down on the couch and she lies on top of me as I cover our bodies with the blanket; she places her head on my chest, above my heart and I wrap my arms around her. We see the movie go on and its Forrest Gump again; I must have forgotten to take it out of the DVD player from a few nights ago.

"Do you want me to change it?" Verena asked looking up at me.

I shook my head, "It's okay, I don't mind watching it again." I put a hand on her cheek and I smile, "I love you, Verena."

She smiled back, "I love you too, Leo."

We kiss for a moment and she lays her head back on my chest. The rest of the night I laid there holding the girl I love in my arms.

**Surprise! Yes, Leo and Verena are finally together! I hope you all like this chapter because I love it. And I'm hoping that their make-out scene was good, but you'll be the judge of that. The song that she sings is "You Found Me" by Kelly Clarkson, which by the way ties in to the story. Before the chapter started I talked about an inspiration to this piece, and this person is the brilliant SakuraNinjaress that also writes TMNT Fanfictions.**

**SakuraNinjaress, you're writing is amazing. In fact, the inspiration of this chapter came from your last chapter in A Kunoichi's Past. This story that you do is hands down the best TMNT Fanfic that I have ever read. Keep up your amazing storytelling:)**

**Now that this chapter is done, I need some time to rethink my idea for the next chapter, and also my college exams and reports are going to take up a big chunk of my time. Please R&R and any PM or ideas are welcomed. Until next time:)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello hello hello! Oh my goodness it feels so good to be back doing this again:). I apologize for being gone for a while, but you know with college, duty calls. Despite all of my exams and essays, I finally have the time to put up another chapter. Like always, I do not own TMNT, but I love them to death, only my OCs. Here we go:)**

Chapter 13: Settling the Score

Verena's P.O.V.:

_I hear the Shredder's wicked laugh as he came closer to me with his arm slowly rising. My body is starting to shake and I can feel he tears streaming down my face and the blood coming from my wounds. When he raised his gauntlet I see a bright light right behind him and zooms over in front of his face. He tries to destroy it with his weapon, but with each swing it dodges making him irritated. The light shines in his face making him blind and it comes to me; it starts to show something in the center._

"_What is that?" I ask the light as I try to get a closer look into it, "What are you showing me?"_

_The figure in the center begins to come out a little more clearer. As I start to see it, the light shines in my face and I shut my eyes tight so I won't go blind._

I shot my eyes open and lift my body up, looking around the living room and seeing no one around. The sweat from my forehead started to drip down my face and my breathing is slowing down a little. My face feels hot as I wipe the sweat with my hand. I'm starting to get up until I feel Leo's arms wrap around me, pulling me to his body. He sighed when I rubbed my hands on his chest and he smiled. His eyes finally open and I stare at him smiling, loving waking up with him holding me in his muscular arms. We touch each other's cheeks and I kiss his hand and he chuckles softly.

"Good morning." Leo said brushing my hair away from my face.

"Good morning." I said and look down at his plastron, sighing.

Leo put a hand under my chin, lifting my face to him, "Did you have another nightmare?" He asked sensing something wrong.

I nod, "Yes. The light came near me and tried to show me the same thing like before."

"And did you see anything?" He asked looking curious.

"I tried to, but the light shined in my face." I tell him feeling a little upset.

"Don't get mad at yourself, Verena." Leo said rubbing my back, "Whatever is in the light it's starting to appear more to you. Maybe not as much as you want it to, but little by little each time. You need to have hope that it will clearly show you soon."

I smiled at him, "I know, but I really want to know what it is."

"I know you do, we all want to know, but we have to wait. Master Splinter always says that patience is a warrior's greatest weapon."

"Right." I can't help but giggle, "You really are a Splinter Jr."

He smiled and chuckled, "I love you."

"I love you too." I said rubbing his chest.

My hand felt Leo's heart pump through his chest; he has a strong heartbeat. I lean in to his face and place my lips on his while he puts his hand behind my head. If I was to describe what it is like to kiss Leo, I can only think of one thing: kissing him is like taking a breath of fresh air; it's refreshing, it feels good to the touch on your skin, and it gives your body a whole new sensation. Leo began to lift himself up as I am sitting on top of him, not breaking our kiss. He was massaging my back as I wrap my arms around his neck, mowing my fingers up and down his skin gently as I sent shivers all over him. After a moment I pull my lips from his and got up from the couch while Leo sat down.

I stretch out so I can wake up, "I guess I should go get ready for my meditation."

"Yeah. Maybe you'll see what's in the light better when you concentrate on it." He said and gave me a gentle smile, "I'll see you before training."

I nod and smile back, "Okay." I turn to leave to my room and to change into my armor.

Two Hours Later…

Leo's P.O.V.:

"Hey Leo." Don said as he, Mikey, and Raph came into the kitchen.

"Hey guys." I said, getting up to rinse off my cereal bowl, "What's going on?"

"Nothing much." He said taking a seat at the table with the others.

"So…" Mikey started to say and had a big smile on his face.

I am a little confused, "So…"

"Do you have something to tell us?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" I ask kind of already knowing what they want to know.

"Did ya tell her?" Raph asked the question.

I stare at them for a moment and nod, "Yeah, I did."

"And? What did she say?" He kept on asking questions as they were looking anxious to know my answer.

I take a deep breath and smile, "Guess who's got a girlfriend?"

"No way!" They shouted and started to cheer; hugging me so tight that I thought my shell was going to fly off.

"Verena likes you too?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, she does."

"Congratulations, Leo." Don said patting my shell.

"Actually," I look at each of them, "I want to thank you guys. You gave me the confidence to tell Verena how I feel about her and I turned out that she loves me as much as I love her. If you guys didn't talk me into it, I would have waited longer to tell her, and… I don't want to lose her. Last night was one of the happiest moments of my life and I thank you guys… for being the best brothers ever."

"Forget 'bout it." Raph said putting a hind on my shoulder, "It's what we do."

"Yeah." Don and Mikey agreed.

I just smile and nod at them.

"So, did ya kiss her?" Raph asked with a grin.

I look at the kitchen entrance and smile, "Why don't you ask her." I said motioning my eyes for them to look in my direction.

They turn around and see Verena standing there with her arms crossed over her chest; she stared to smile sweetly at us. We both walk over to each other and hug. She giggled when I kiss her cheek a few times and tightened my hug around her waist. We look at each other and then at the guys, who had big smiles that made Verena and I blush.

"I'm guessing you told them." She said looking at me.

"Yeah he did." Raph said and came up to her, "Look here Princess, Leo loves ya as you love him, so… we hope ya can make him happy as much as we do."

Verena smiled, "Guys, there is no secret to how much I love Leo and he makes me so happy to be with him. I know you guys will be very protective of him with us being together, but I promise you this as I already did to Master Splinter, I will not do anything to hurt or harm Leo in any way, shape, or form. I love him with all my heart."

Raph smiled, "We know ya do and it shows with the way you promised us."

"All we can do is say one thing." Mikey said.

"And what would that be?" She asked.

"We're very happy for the both of you." Don said smiling.

"Yeah! Congrats guys!" Mikey said with a big smile.

"But, seriously did Leo kiss ya or what?" Raph asked again.

Verena nodded, "He did, and before you ask how it was, let me say that it was amazing."

They looked at each other confused.

"How did you-" Mikey started to ask.

"I'm psychic, remember?" She said in a cheerful tone. Verena looked at me, "Should we show them, Leo?"

"Um, that won't be necessary." Don said getting nervous.

"I don't know Verena. They look really curious." I said playing along with her.

"C'mon, we don't wanna see ya both making out." Raph said.

"I think they want to know." She said wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Eww, gross." Mikey said.

"Ready?" I ask holding her in my arms.

"No!" They shouted wanting us to stop.

We put our face close to each other and look at them.

Verena started to laugh, "You should see the look on your faces." She looked at me still laughing, "What would you call their expressions?"

"Priceless." I said laughing along with her.

They look at each other and their faces read one word: annoyed. Verena and I can't help but continue to laugh and soon we hear the guys laughing with us; the entire kitchen was filled with the sound of our laughter. I thought they would get mad, or at least Raph chase us for playing a trick on them like that. The laughing dies as we calmed down and we leave to the dojo to do our morning training.

Later That Evening…

We're out patrolling the city and so far there is no sign of anything suspicious going on no matter how much we looked around. The entire city seemed peaceful as we run on the rooftops, the lights making it bright all over. I had told my brothers to look real closely when we go out; trying to find a sign of any Foot activity or clues if those Dark Benders are still around, watching us. This whole time Verena was relaxed and happy being out here after the bad encounter from several nights ago; it actually made me ease up a little knowing she isn't afraid to come back out here. We keep going until we stop at Time Square and the look on Verena's face just lit up. She walks to the edge of the roof and takes in the sight: the lights, signs, buildings, Time Square is a great place to come to at night. I can tell she's enjoying it a lot.

"Wow." She said with a big smile on her face, "So, this is Time Square."

"Yeah. Isn't it cool dudette?" Mikey asked.

"Are you kidding? This is amazing." She cheerfully answered him.

"It's one of the best places to come to at night." Don said with a happy tone.

"I can see why. This reminds me so much of my world."

"Really?" He asked looking surprised.

"On Kennistar the buildings in the capitol are as bright as Time Square, and a little bit taller." She said and smiled, "Maybe one of these days I will take you all to my world."

"You would?" Don asked.

"Of course I would and you guys deserve to see my home with your own eyes instead of my pictures."

"Yeah, but until then how 'bout a game of Follow the Leader?" Raph said pointing at himself as leader.

"You being the leader? This ought to be good." Verena said.

"Let's see if you can keep up, Princess." Raph said and ran to the right.

"I'm right behind you, Raph." She said and ran with us following them behind.

I thought when Raph and I played Follow the Leader we were competitive, but with Verena going against him they take it to a new level. They were running really fast and jumped to a lot of buildings. She wanted to beat him at his own game and I think she's getting close to doing that; Raph jumped to a building that was far from the one he was on before, but Verena made her jump and passed him when she landed. Don, Mikey, and I came up and we catch our breaths, finally; this was the longest round of Follow the Leader so far. Raph looked at Verena and all she did was smile at him.

"Looks… like… I… win." Verena said catching her breath.

"Yeah, whatever." Raph said patting her back, "I almost had you."

"Almost, but you didn't." She said.

"Ya just wait 'til next time." He said grinning at her.

"I will hold you to it." She said.

I came up and put my arm around her, "You did good, Verena."

"Thanks." She said smiling at me.

"Wow Raph, I can't believe you got beaten by a girl." Mikey said and laughed.

"Mikey." Raph growled his name getting mad at him, "Get over here!" He yelled and started to chase him.

"AAHHH!" Mikey screamed as Raph chased him around the roof.

Don, Verena, and I stood there and we laugh at this moment; sometimes I find it funny when they go at it, but most of the time I think it's ridiculous. Mikey's trying to get away from him as fast as he can until Raph tackles him to the ground, taking us with them. I know it shouldn't surprise me, but they just dog piled on Verena too as well as me and Don; we were attempting to pull them away from each other. Suddenly I felt this tingling sensation all over my body and see it glow white; the guys had the same thing not long after me. We stop as soon as we were being lifted from the roof and into mid- air; I look and see Verena is the one that's doing this to us. Her hands glowing is an indication that she's using her telekinesis or at least one of her bending powers.

"You guys had enough?" She asked grinning.

Raph sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Me too." Mikey agreed with him.

"Good." She said and put us down.

"I hate it when you do that." Raph gave her a grin.

"Too bad." She winked and giggled.

I started to feel a familiar presence near us all over the roof. Then in a split second a bunch of Foot Ninja surrounded us with their weapons ready. We all pull out our weapons and get in a fighting stance. A gap starts to form in front of us and Hun appears wielding a sword on his back. He looked at us for a moment and turned his gaze at Verena, giving her a wicked smile as he chuckled.

"Long time no see, Ishtar."

Verena's P.O.V.:

"Well, I never thought I would see you again." I tell him holding Timaeus.

"Actually, I've been sent to find you." Hun said keeping his disgusting smile on me.

"Why? Shredder ain't got anyone good to do his dirty work?" Raph asked making Hun mad.

"Besides trying to get rid of you freaks and take her to him, I thought the brat would want a rematch." He's pushing my buttons.

I stare at him dead in the eye, "You and I have unfinished business." I hold Timaeus in one hand, "And in case you don't remember, let me make this very clear, my answer is still No."

Hun growled, "You are a very stubborn little girl, but once we take out your friends, we'll take you."

I growl, getting angry.

Leo stepped in front of me, "If you want her, you have to go through me."

The others step in.

"You have to go through all of us." Donnie said as they surrounded me.

"It won't matter if you turtles or anyone else protects her, either way she's coming with us." He looked at the ninjas, "Destroy the turtles, the brat is mine."

All of them charged at us and we quickly counterattack on them. The ninjas were focused on the guys and Hun is trying to hit me with his giant fists; I dodge all of them and punch him in the stomach. I try to kick him, but he caught my foot and threw me over him on the ground. He was going to slam his fists on me, but I rolled out of the way and got up. I run up and punch him several times in the face, getting the upper hand on this giant moron, making each hit count.

Hun is on his knees and pulls out his sword; I hold Timaeus near my body as he gets up. In an instance we charge and our blades clash, both of us trying to disarm the other. We hold our ground, pushing our swords together, but Hun forces Timaeus back and punches me in the stomach. His eyes focus on the guys as they were almost done taking out the ninjas and charges with his sword in the air. I grab his arm so I can take it, but he shoves me and slaps me across my face so hard that I fall on the ground. My face stung when I rub my cheek and look at Hun who held his sword up, looking angry with his eyes staring me down. I try to reach for Timaeus, but he swung down quickly.

"No!" Leo exclaimed as he blocked Hun's attack with his katanas.

Soon they go at it and I pull Timaeus to me using my telekinesis. I jump up and was going to go help the guys fight Hun, but a Foot Ninja tied me with a chain rope and is pulling me. This ninja is very determined I'll give him that, but I use my arms to break free from the chains. I grab it and pull the ninja towards me and kick him to the ground. The guys were getting beaten by Hun and he cuts Leo's arm with his sword and throws him on his shell. Leo is holding his arm to pressure on his wound and Hun is ready to finish him off.

I run as fast as I could and block his attack in time; I swing Timaeus, disarm him, and put my sword back in its hilt. He yelled in anger and is swinging his arms to hit me, but it wasn't working; I grab one of his arms, twist it, and kick him forward. Hun is near the edge and I jump and kick him a few times in the chest, but he kept his balance. I dodge his last attempt and grasp his shoulder, pinching a nerve and he started to go down to his knees.

"You lose." I growled at Hun and punch him in the face, knocking him out cold.

I feel really good right now. My energy is filled up and my confidence is at an all-time high. I turn around and the guys are surrounding Leo and I go over to see what's going on. I see him holding his arm, blood going down his arm and pass his hand.

I kneel down, worried, "Leo, you're hurt."

"What this? It's just a cut, no big deal." Leo said trying to make me feel better. He gave me a small smile, "I'm alright, really."

"Well we need to get back to the Lair so I can treat your arm." Donnie said.

I look at Leo's arm and have a solution, "I think I can help with that."

"How?" Mikey asked.

"When we get back I'll show you."

Twenty Minutes Later…

We get back to the Lair and the guys immediately take Leo to Donnie's lab, still keeping pressure on his wound. I go into the kitchen, take a bowl out of the cupboard, and fill it with water. Why I have a bowl of water is for a healing spell that I normally use when I have injuries like bruises, cuts, those types of things. I get into the lab and Donnie had a First-Aid Kit on the table, he probably thinks I need it for helping Leo. They look at me funny as I walk over and place the water on the table, curious for what I am about to do to their older brother. Seeing that I have everything, I am ready to go.

"Alright. Leo, take your hand off your arm." I tell him and he let's go. His wound is long as I touch it, not hurting him, "Good news, it's not too deep so it will be simple to treat." I put my hands in the bowl.

"What's the water for?" Donnie asked getting a closer look.

"For this." I use my water-bending to cover my hands with the water, with a mix of healing magic that made it glow, "Watch."

I put my hands on Leo's arm and let the healing magic do its work with a little help from the water-bending. The water circled around his arm, covering every single inch of the wound. It began to glow as it started to get thinner, and the blood soon was washed away in the water. The wound turned into a scar; I place the water back in the bowl. I look at the guys and their expressions said one thing: amazed; their mouths were wide open standing there in awe and looking at Leo's arm. For La Shien's sake, you would think they would be used to my magic by now, but no, everything seems to amaze them. Personally, I think its funny seeing the looks on their faces.

"How did ya do that?" Raph asked.

"Healing magic." I answer him drying off my hands with a towel. "I use it a lot when I get wounds like that."

"So, the water that you used makes it easier to transfer the healing magic." Donnie said looking fascinated.

"Exactly." I tell him smiling.

"That's so cool." He said.

"It really is," Leo said and held my hand, "Thanks, Verena."

"You're welcome." I said squeezing his hand.

"Hey, who's up for a movie?" Mikey asked cheerfully.

"I am!" We all said at once.

"Just don't put on anything borin'." Raph said.

"Who me? Never." Mikey said and laughed, "Let's go."

We all walk out of the lab and go into the living room. Leo and I sat on the couch along with Raph, Donnie sat on the armchair, and Mikey sat on the floor after he put in the movie Jaws. So with the place silent and calm, we watch the movie.

10:00 pm

Leo's P.O.V.:

Right after the movie we all head to our rooms to relax the rest of the night of the night; it's nice and quiet in the Lair. I am lying down on my bed, trying to get some sleep, but I can't. I'm wide awake. Not that I am worried about anything it's just that I have a lot of energy right now. I look at the scar on my arm for a while and can't believe that Verena can do that type of magic. It was one of the craziest things that I have felt so far; I can't even describe it. I sit on my bed and the door knocks.

"Come in." I tell whoever is outside.

Verena walks in and shuts the door, "Hi."

"Hi." I greet her smiling.

"You can't sleep, huh?" She asked sitting next to me.

I shake my head, "No, I feel wide awake."

"So do I." She said and got up, "I feel relieved after the attack earlier with Hun and the Foot." She put her back to the wall.

I get up and go over, "Verena, what you did to them, Hun, shows you that you are not a quitter. You are a very strong person and you proved to them that you won't be taken without a fight."

She looked at me and is brushing her hands on her white tank top and black sweatpants, "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" I ask.

"How do you always know what to say?" She asked as she wraps her arms around my neck.

"That's simple, I love you too much." I tell her smiling.

She giggles, "I love you too."

The room goes silent. We stand next to the wall, looking at each other deeply for a moment, but it seemed like forever. I wrap my arms around her waist we let our foreheads touch, taking in the sensation of each other. Verena puts her lips to mine and I immediately kiss her back. Taking in the taste of her lips like they were the sweetest fruit, making your mouth water for more. Her flavor is addicting as my lips deepen to hers.

I move Verena up against the wall and the kiss gets more intense. She lifts her leg and wraps it around my waist and I hold it with my hand and use the other to caress her cheek. For a moment our mouths open and our tongues meet each other again, and I pick her up to let her other leg wrap around my waist. She gasps as I am carrying her in my arms and rub her back all the way to her sides. I move us from the wall to my bed, lying down with her on top of me without breaking our kiss.

Verena moves her lips and kisses my cheek, down to my neck, and on my plastron. I can't help but moan as she plants her soft lips all over my plastron, making my entire body shiver with each one. She brings her lips to mine, reconnecting them, and I place my hand in back of her head, feeling her silk hair between my fingers. I take in each sensation: the pressure of our lips, the softness of her hair, and the tingling in my body. I roll us over on the bed, with me on top of her this time.

We smile and look at each other, then kiss. I move my lips from her and kiss her ear several times, breathing heavily into it that made her moan and tremble a little. I went down to her neck and start to suck on it gently and she arched her back, sighing as she dug her fingers in my shoulders. My lips went back to hers as we open our mouths and our tongues touch with each heavy breath that we took. Our arms pulled in peach other tightly as the gap between us closed again, into a secure hug. With one last kiss we break away and stare at each other, touching each other's cheeks.

"That was amazing." I tell her smiling.

Verena giggled and smiled, "It was more than that." She pecked my lips, "It was spectacular."

All I did is chuckle at her response.

"I wish we can stay like this." She said.

"So do I." I tell her.

She lifts herself up as I let go, sitting on the bed, "But we still have this ordeal to figure out."

I nod, "Right."

Verena yawns, "I should get some sleep and you should too." She gets up and turns to me showing a loving smile, "I love you, Leo."

I get up and hold her hands, "I love you too, Verena." I pull her in for a kiss. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She said and leaves to her room.

I turn around and get into bed, pulling the blankets over my arms. My mind is blown away as I close my eyes, falling into a deep sleep. I am the luckiest turtle in the world.

**Well, what do you think? Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. By the way I want to thank those that liked the last chapter because it was my favorite one so far in this story. You all are what keep me going with this fanfiction, and I can't wait to write more soon. As always, any and all comments and ideas are welcomed. Please R&R. Until next time:)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello hello hello! Okay people I know that I'm a little behind in updating, but here is the next chapter (letting you know there is light cussing). I will do my best to keep posting more up soon. Before I forget thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, I really appreciate it. As always, I do not own TMNT, only my OCs. Enjoy:)**

Chapter 14: Capture

One Month Later…

Verena's P.O.V.:

"_From the light comes the dark!" _A voice hissed in my head.

I gasp as I open my eyes after washing my face. No one is there.

"Damn." I whisper looking in the mirror.

Another month has come and gone. The nightmare continues to appear, every night without fail. Now I just don't see them in my sleep but when I am awake and that started about a week ago. I was making dinner for everyone, following a pot roast recipe that I found in one of the cookbooks that I bought a while back. Everything was almost ready and all I had to do was cut up the roast; it smelled really good for my first attempt at it. As I was cutting the meat I see a head take the place of my roast. I look all over the kitchen and there were dead bodies everywhere, including my family, the guys, and sensei. Mikey's corpse gets up and the others soon followed; I was freaked out. They asked me if I was alright, but I didn't answer and not realizing the knife in my hand was pointed at them. I shut my eyes tight and open them; the guys were fine, not dead or hurt and the bodies were gone. I put the knife down and apologized to them, telling them what I saw. They stayed with me in my room that night to comfort me.

Since then it has been a living hell, as they would say. I see the images about two or three times a day, sometimes I'm lucky if it is once a day. The meditation sessions now are more difficult to control what I see as it all hurts my mind. I am tired. No, I am exhausted. I haven't had a decent night sleep in over a week. I can't even get myself together without snapping or breaking down and I know that isn't fair to them. Everyone has been helping me the best that they can and I do my best in giving them answers to this mystery.

For now, all I can do is try to keep my sanity and cool for as long as possible. I leave the bathroom and go back to my room so I can relax before my training. The Lair is quiet, just how I like it. I fix my usual dress and sit at my desk, looking at the CDs that I got a long time ago; reading each one so I can pick one to listen to. I stop at a Glenn Miller CD and read Track 2, "Moonlight Serenade", and the name is very interesting; in a way I'm a sucker for old music. Taking out of its case, I turn on my radio and put in the disk, scrolling to the song. It starts to play and… it's beautiful. Earth's music still continues to amaze me when I hear something new, especially old jazz. My body starts to sway with the sound and I soon start to dance; almost doing a waltz. As I spin I feel a hand take hold of mine; I look to see Leo standing there in front of me.

"Hi." I greet him smiling.

"Hey." He said and smiled back, "Can I join you?"

"Of course."

Leo pulls me close with one arm around my waist and his other hand holds mine. We start to dance to the song, nice and slow.

"You are a really good dancer, Leo." I tell him touching his cheek with mine.

"Thanks. So are you." He said.

We continue to dance to the song. Somehow I imagine humans dancing like this during that time period; it must have been wonderful. Leo held me close to him, being so gentle and smooth as we dance. To me it's like I have fallen in love all over. Starring at the turtle that I love and he smiles lovingly at me, looking charming as ever that makes my heart skip a beat. His eyes were beautiful and hypnotizing to look into every time; getting lost in them with my own. As the song started to end, Leo spins us around and dips me, holding me tight. We smile and as I am ready to kiss him I blink and the next thing I knew he was dead.

"Oh my Gods." I gasp, starring at his dead corpse.

"Verena?" Leo called me, "Are you alright?"

I shut my eyes and open them, Leo is alive and he looks worried, "Yes. Yes I'm fine." I tell him pulling it together.

He lifts me up, "Are you sure?"

I nod, "Yes."

"Alright."

7:00 pm

"Raphael, come." Master Splinter called him over to the center. "Remember your training, Verena."

"Yes sensei." I bow to him and pull out Timaeus.

Raph pulls out his sais, "Let's go Princess."

"If you insist." I said and charge at him.

Our weapons clashed together from the first attack. The others were watching us from the side as we did our weapons practice. I am starting to get the upper hand until Raph disarms me, and I got really mad. Not at him, but at myself. He came at me and I jump over him and grabbed Timaeus, blocking his attack. I am trying to hold my own against him, but Raph is getting me with strong hits; this is making me more angry.

My mind began to race dealing with all of my frustration and exhaustion. The moment that I blink and open my eyes, Raph is gone and he is replaced by the Shredder, holding his sais. I look all over and everyone is dead; I shut my eyes and open them, but the image is still there. He came at me and I panicked, swinging at him in fear and rage. I cannot control myself. With a few swings of my sword, I disarm the Shredder and kick him hard to the floor. I raise Timaeus up, ready to behead him.

"Verena! Wait!" He yelled at me, "It's me, Raph! Don't ya remember?!"

"What?" I am so confused and the corpses got up, scaring me.

I shut my eyes and swing, but stop. When I open my eyes I saw Raph on the ground and the others staring at me, terrified. By the Gods, what the hell have I done?!

I breathe heavily, "R-Raph I-I…," I lift Timaeus up,_ "Oh my Gods."_

"Verena, what happened?" Master Splinter asked walking to me.

I step back to the door, "No. K-Keep away from me." My eyes started to fill with tears, "If you know what is good for you stay away from me."

I run out holding Timaeus in my hand, but I didn't run to my room. No, I ran out of the Lair. I need to be outside, away from them. The whole incident made me feel guilty, and I should feel that way. I could have killed Raph. Seeing him and everyone else… they looked afraid. I can't go back. How could I? I lost control. That's not right.

Half an Hour Later…

I continue to run as fast as I can, getting as far from the Lair as possible. My legs were numb and for a moment I couldn't tell if I was still running or not. There is a familiar sight up ahead and I run to it. I stop to see that I am in Time Square. But why? I can't that I don't know the answer to my own question. All of it reminded me so much of my home, and I miss it so much. Everything has gone all wrong. Anything is better than this. I feel a presence in back of me and pull out Timaeus. I am so not in the mood right now.

"Verena." I heard it say and coming out of the shadows. It's Leo, "Verena, it's me."

"Leo." I said softly, but soon held my sword out, "Stay away."

"What?" He asked confused and walking closer.

I hold it out farther, "Stay away from me, Leo."

"Why? Why don't you want me to come near you?" He is still walking closer.

"Because…," I can feel tears again and look down, "I-I'm a monster." I lower Timaeus.

Leo stood in front of me, "I'm not afraid of you." He put his hand on my cheek and lifted my head to meet his.

"Y-You're not?" I ask on the verge of tears.

"No. How could I be afraid of the girl that I love?" He asked looking at me.

I drop Timaeus. His question hit me hard and the tears flowed, "Oh, Leo."

I bury my face in my hands and cry. I felt Leo's hand on my head and his arm around my waist, embracing me. My mind blew its cork. I can't take it anymore. Seeing my loved ones dead before my very eyes was so unbearable. Having the images come at you over and over again. I don't know what else to do. All I can think of is cry it all out. I feel like a coward.

Leo's hand is stroking my head, softly running through my hair. I take my hands off my face and place them on his chest. The crying stopped, but the tears still ran down my cheeks. My heart feels like a brick, it's heavy and I think it is ready to fall out of my body. I can feel my legs shake and my knees buckle. This fear is making me a wreck, both physically and emotionally. Suddenly, my legs gave out and I go down on the ground with Leo still holding me.

"Leo," I started to speak, my voice is shaky, "I'm-"

"Stop. You don't have to apologize for anything." He said with a gentle tone, "This isn't your fault.

I look at him, almost shocked, "This is my fault. I'm the one who has been making you guys help me with this nightmare. I put you all in serious danger because of it. I almost killed Raph!" I get up and walk near the edge.

"Verena-"

"No! It isn't fair to you guys that you waste your time for me!" I go down to my knees.

He comes over and kneels in front of me, "Verena, we may not know what you're seeing, but we know how you feel. Scared. Helpless. Alone. Here's the thing, you are not alone. We wouldn't leave you by yourself to handle this on your own. I know it may not seem like it now, but we do care about what's going on and we knew the risk of helping you. No matter what happens next, you will always have us there to lift you from your pain and sorrows because we are a family. We stick together."

I didn't say anything and just stare at him.

Leo put his hands on my cheeks, "I'll stand by you no matter what comes our way. I promise you, Verena."

"You will?" I ask him and realized that it was a dumb question.

"Of course I will." His forehead touches mine, "I love you."

"I love you too."

I soon felt his lips on mine, giving me a deep kiss. A tear went down my cheek and he wiped it off with his thumb. The air felt cool passing my skin. I put my hands on his shoulders and grip them lightly. His lips slowly left mine and we look at each other; the love that we have for each other has gotten stronger and still continues to. I love Leo more than life itself. My strength begins to come back and we got up to our feet and hug each other.

Before we said anything I felt another presence close by our location. It felt so familiar to me, but there is something else that is new. In a blink of an eye, Dark Benders and a group of Foot Ninja surround us with their weapons drawn. Leo and I take our weapons and got into a fighting stance, but they didn't move. Two dark figures appeared in front of us and walked forward so we can see them. One of them is a woman wearing the Foot seal on her clothing, has short black hair, and green eyes; she must be leading the ninjas. The other figure is… no way!

"Natla." I growl out her name, "You just don't know when to die, do you?"

Natla is who the people of Earth would call the devil in disguise. Seductive. Sneaky. Clever. Most importantly, a loner and she is proud of it. She doesn't serve anyone else but her own desires. Her skin is as white as white as snow, eyes and hair black as coal, and her armor is really revealing; it had a V-cut that showed most of her chest and stomach, and it's like a black leather material.

She laughed at me, "Now is that anyway to say hello?" She put her hands on her hips, "I missed you, Verena dear."

"Funny, I didn't miss you." I tell her, coldly.

"And I should have known the Shredder would send you, Karai." Leo said to the woman next to Natla.

"I am honor bound to my master. You and your family will pay for foiling with his plans, and it will start with us taking your friend." She said pulling out her katana.

"_They really did team up."_ I thought.

Leo stood in front of me, "I won't let any one of you take her, not when I'm here."

I gave him a small smile.

Natla howled with laughter, "How touching. Young love." She pulled out her black dagger, "It is very cute how he defends you so, my dear. Too bad it won't last that long."

"Well, aren't you being so cheerful." I said.

"And you are a fool!" She yelled out, "To think I had to travel all this way just to help Nathias and Nanuke find you. Yet here you are with… that!" She pointed at Leo.

"Hey! Don't you ever talk to him like that!" I yell back.

"I don't even know what you see in Leonardo." Karai said looking annoyed.

"I guess you need to look harder because I can see plenty." I said to her.

"What does the Shredder want with Verena, Karai?" Leo asked her.

"That will be for him to decide, but until then we have our orders." Karai looks to the ninjas, "Attack them and take the princess!"

We hold our weapons out, but then we see Raph, Donnie, and Mikey pop out of nowhere and stand next to us.

"You guys ain't starin' the party without us, are ya?" Raph asked twirling his sais.

"Not a chance." I am happy to see them, but then I felt bad, "Raph, I'm-"

"Forget 'bout it." He said grinning at me.

I nod.

"Man, is it me or did these guys get uglier than last time?" Mikey asked and saw Natla, "And who invited the Mistress of the Dark?"

She looked angry, "How dare you make fun of me!"

"You know you should really take it as a compliment." I tell her.

She growled.

"I take it she's serious about her looks." Donnie said.

"Very." I answer.

"Enough of this!" Karai exclaimed and looked at the ninjas again, "Destroy them!"

Natla stares at the Dark Benders, "Take them out! The Princess is mine!"

Everyone charged at us and we jump out of the circle, off to the sides. Some of the ninjas ran to me and I split kick two of them in the face; the last one I used my earth-bending and bury him in the cement up to his head. A Dark Bender shoots a ball of fire at me, but I duck down before it touches me. I see a metal chimney near him and take it apart with my metal-bending and bind him inside. Another ninja came at me with his sword and I block his attack with Timaeus. He swings like a mad-man. I disarm him and give a roundhouse kick to the face. More Dark Benders show up and I blow them off the building with my air-bending. That felt good.

I look over to see the guys and they were doing good taking them out. Leo is facing off against Karai and a couple of ninjas while his brothers are occupied. If this is to continue then the guys will need help, and I know just who to call. I press the distress signal on my wrist link and turn it invisible for no one to see. Now to play it off. I take out my Shell Cell so I can call April and Casey, but a lightning bolt destroys it; the phone shatters to pieces, again. That's just great! I look over and Natla grins at me.

"O, did I break your little toy?" She asked with a pleased tone.

"How about I come over there and shove that dagger of yours up your ass!" I am furious right now.

"Why…you…you're mine!" She said and flew at me.

Natla landed on top of me and tried to force her dagger down my throat. I use one of my hands to push it back towards her. If there was one fact that I knew about Natla was that she like to play dirty. She starts to choke me with one hand and continues to push down her blade with the other. It started to get closer to my face as I am loosing air. I drop Timaeus and use my telekinesis to push her off of me; good thing it worked.

I pick up Timaeus and got up. Natla got off of her knees and held her dagger, twirling it around a couple of times. I run to her and she sends a lightning bolt in my direction and I slide under it, dodging the attack. Her dagger comes down and I block it with my sword as I am on my knees. Natla grins and throws fire dust in my face; this type of dust burns whatever it touches and it can make you go blind if it gets in your eyes. I scream from the pain and I rub my face, but I get grabbed by several arms and they hold me down. I can't see. However, I can hear Natla walking to me and her awful laugh. Soon I felt lightning piercing my body and I scream again from this pain. It lasted about a couple of minutes, but if felt like forever. Then I could feel the arms punch me in the face and waist, and I think they threw in a few kicks, but I couldn't tell. I groan and struggled to get up.

"Get away from her!" I heard Leo yell out and soon metal began to clash.

I can hear grunting as I turn my body to the sound, which is right in front of me. My hand touches Timaeus and I pick it up in a tight grip. I rub my eyes and slowly get my vision back, thanks to the fire dust. Once I saw everything clear, I look and see Leo being bound by Natla with four of her shadow-like tentacles on his arms and legs.

"Nice try, sweet thing." She said seductively to him, "If you wanted to play that bad all you had to do was ask." Natla is face-to-face with Leo and she rubs her chest on his plastron.

My Gods, this is making me sick.

"How do you like that?" Natla asked grinning at him.

I started to charge my light magic as I watched.

"I don't." Leo said giving her a murderous look.

"Hmm, I'll just have to change your mind." She gets a hold of his chin and licks her lips.

I shoot my light magic at her and she fall flat on her back and Leo is set free. She sat up as I stand next to Leo, holding Timaeus in one hand and charging my magic with the other.

"Get your oversized chest off of my boyfriend, you skank!" I yell at her and I don't care if I overreacted because I had every reason to.

"Did you just hit me?!" She asked.

I throw more of my light at her, sending her back a couple of feet, "Did that answer your question?"

As I walk over she hits me with more lightning and I fall on my side. I try to get back up, but she still hits me with everything she's got. The guys run over to help me, but the Dark Benders block them and they fight. I see Karai and she is running to the guys, swinging a chain above her; she's heading towards them and they don't even know it. I focus my mind and create a force field, only this time I reflect the lightning at Karai before she got close enough and she falls. I sigh in relief.

"Go to Plan B!" Karai yelled out as she got up.

The ninjas and Dark Benders took out these weird looking guns, almost the size of a pistol but the barrels were big. They aim at us and fire, but we dodged the shots. I look at what is being fired and saw a needle; these aren't bullets, they're tranquilizers. So this is their Plan B? Drug us until we go unconscious? I don't think so. I'm not going down without a fight. The guys were dodging the shots for a while, but they soon got hit and went down, trying to fight off the drug.

"Guys! Hold on!" I run to them, but felt a tranquilizer go through my skin. _"Oh no."_ My vision is getting blurry as I still try to go to the guys, "Guys." I said softly as my breathing is heavy.

"Verena…," Leo said reaching his hand out to me.

"Leo." I'm so close to them, but I get slapped in the face and fall to the ground on my stomach. _"Come on. Don't give in."_ I tell myself as I fight to get up.

"Forget the turtle. Our master's want her." I heard Karai say.

"It will not matter." Natla said to her, "By the time these creatures realize what is going on, it will be too late. " She walks to me and holds a gun to my arm, "Have a nice rest."

I feel the tranquilizer again and as the drug flows through my system I surrender to it. Soon, everything goes black.

**Yes people she gets taken! What do you think? I hope you all liked it. I want to take this time and thank all of you that have favored and follow this story; you all are awesome and I will try my very best to have more up soon. Feel free to PM me anytime that you like. Please R&R. Until next time:)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello**** hello hello! Okay people I know that some of you have been waiting patiently for this next chapter, but letting you all know right now that it's a little shorter than my other chapters so far. Either way it was kind of hard to write this one. As always, I do not own TMNT, only my OCs. Here we go:)**

Chapter 15: Missing

The Next Day…

Leo's P.O.V.:

"_Ugh…, I don't feel so good." _I thought as I try to wake up from my sleep.

"Look! They're waking up." I heard a familiar voice say.

I open my eyes slowly, adjusting to the light of where my brothers and I are at. We were in the Lair, laying down in the living room and the guys were also waking up. How did we get back here? None of us couldn't have moved from that fight, couldn't we? All of us sat up and look at each other, wondering what had happened.

"My sons," Master Splinter stood in front of us, "I am relieved that you are all alright."

"Yeah, so are we." Mikey said rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"Good thing that April and I found ya." Casey said.

"But how?" Don asked stretching his arms.

"We got a call from Verena's Shell Cell and we traced it. Luckily we were able to get you guys back here." April said.

I look around and don't see her anywhere, "Where is Verena?" I ask them.

She looked at Casey and had a sad look on her face, "I'm not sure how we can put this, but… she's gone."

"_Gone?!" _I thought in shock.

"What?!" The guys said at once, being shocked as I am.

"She wasn't with us?" Raph asked.

"No, by the time we got there she was gone." Casey said.

Raph growled, "It had to have been Karai and her goons that took her."

"And that female Dark Bender too." Don added.

"Verena and that El Vira lady sounded like they really knew each other." Mikey said.

"They probably do, but we won't know who she is and what they want with her." Don told him, but looked confused as he placed his hand on his chin, "What I can't figure out is how we didn't see Verena use her Shell Cell?"

"Princess must've done it during the fight when we weren't lookin'." Raph said.

"That explains why we found hers broken." April said and held a plastic bag with Verena's Shell Cell inside, shattered to pieces.

"Great. Just Great. How are we supposed to find her now?" Raph asked getting frustrated.

Master Splinter put a hand on his shoulder, "We will find Verena, but we must all think about how to approach the situation. If we simply just jump into action then our time will be wasted and not get any closer to finding her and her captors."

Sensei is right. All of us have to gather as much information as we can and hopefully we can get a lead somewhere. It just sucks that we don't have much to go on and without her Shell Cell with Verena, we can't track her. All I know is that the Foot and Dark Benders have her for the same cause, but I'm not sure what that could be. From all of the questions and thoughts, I start to get upset, angry, sad, all of these different emotions were filling my mind.

"Leonardo?" Master Splinter called me and I look up, "Are you alright, my son?"

Everyone is looking at me and I sigh, "No. I'm not." I turn and start to walk away.

"Leo-, " Raph put a hand on my shoulder and I quickly pull it away.

"Just leave me alone!" I yell at him and walk away.

I walk all the way to my room and shut the door. My shell is to the door and I go over to the corner of my room. The whole atmosphere seemed depressing. I stare at the concrete wall and I just punch it, out of anger. I am angry with myself over this whole situation. It's my fault that Verena is gone. Some boyfriend that I turned out to be, and I couldn't even protect my girlfriend. I place my forehead on the wall and shut my eyes, trying to fight back the tears. The whole world feels like it's crashing down, my world, on my hands. Everything has taken a big wrong turn.

Why? Why couldn't I protect her? She needed us, needed me, and I abandoned her. I feel like I don't even deserve to be with someone like her. If I can take all of this back, I would do it in a heartbeat. I take a deep breath and felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I turn around and Master Splinter is in here with me alone.

I look down, "Master Splinter I-I'm…," I can't even finish my sentence.

"It is alright Leonardo." He said and gave me a comforting smile, "I understand that this situation is especially hard on you."

"Yeah." I finally look at him, and my rage grew, "How could I let this happen to Verena?! It's all my fault! She should be here with us and I didn't protect her from those Dark Benders and the Foot! I wasn't good enough for her! It should have been me, not her!" I can feel my heart race and I stare at him.

He took a deep breath and sighed, "My son, you must not cloud your mind with anger. I know that you feel burdened with Verena being taken, but she would not want you to be this way."

"I know, but it's just that I-"

"Guilt is a monster that can destroy even the strongest minds. Remember, a true warrior must learn to let go of the guilt and have faith. You must be strong for Verena, my son. She needs you more than ever." He said, having a gentle tone.

I put a hand on his shoulder, "Not just me, sensei. Verena needs all of us, together."

He nods, "I could not agree with you more, Leonardo."

I sigh, "I should apologize to Raph."

"You do not need to, my son. Your brothers understand how you feel." He said.

I nod, "Alright."

"I shall leave you to rest." He said and started to walk to the door.

"Master Splinter." I call him.

"Yes, Leonardo?" He stopped and turned around.

I go over and kneel in front of him, "Thank you, Father."

He gave me a comforting hug, "You are welcome, my son."

In this moment, I hug my father with all the love and respect that I've always had for him. It felt good to let out my emotions, and now I can focus on finding Verena.

Later That Evening…

We spent most of the day going over all that we knew with our encounter from last night. Don had repaired Verena's broken Shell Cell, but there was nothing on it, except for the call that she made to April and Casey. So far we didn't have much to go on. Not long after, Master Splinter had suggested that we think back to the nightmares that she's been having. What we could remember was the Shredder and those Dark Benders in it, and somehow they all have a connection to Verena. The thing that we don't know was the dark cloud that appears. How is that connected?

All of us had tried our best to try and think back to anything that she could have said, maybe it could give us a clue. We didn't come up with that much. Tomorrow night, my brothers and I will go back near Time Square to the same roof-top. Until then we all spent the rest of the night in our rooms. I apologized to everyone for the way I was acting, and they were okay with it. They understand how I am feeling and they want Verena back just as badly as I do.

"Oh, Verena." I'm lying down in bed, worrying about her.

If I ever said that I wasn't worried then I would be lying. She could have gotten seriously hurt during that fight, or they could be hurting her now. This sucks! I want her here with me, with us. I want her back in my arms again, knowing that she's safe and secure. She means so much to me and if anything bad were to happen to her I will never forgive myself. I love Verena more than anything. Her grace, beauty, and love that is as bright as the stars in the night sky. I remember this song that she once sang to me; how we face some of the saddest and lonely things in life, but there is always hope that are as bright as stars. I take a deep breath and start to sing the song.

_There will be rest, and sure stars shining_

_There will be rest, and sure stars shining_

_Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,_

_A reign of rest, serene forgetting,_

_The music of stillness holy and low,_

_I will make this world of my devising_

_Out of a dream in my lonely mind._

_I shall find the crystal of peace,- above me_

_Stars I shall find._

_Stars I shall find._

_There will be rest, and sure stars shining_

_There will be rest, and sure stars shining_

_Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,_

_A reign of rest, serene forgetting,_

_The music of stillness holy and low._

_Stars I shall find._

Once I finished the song I pull up the covers and stare up at the ceiling. Now I know why Verena loves singing so much; it gives a sense of relief and peace in your mind. My eyes begin to go heavy from the silence.

"I will find you Verena. I promise." I made her and myself a vow, thinking that she can hear me. I close my eyes, "I love you, my shining star."

**Well, what do you think? I know it's a little on the shorter side, but I'm still working on it. Don't worry though, the next chapter will be a little different so hopefully you stick around to read it. Before I forget, I want to thank all of you that favored and follow this story, and to those that leave me PMs, reviews, all that good stuff. I really appreciate it and I will hopefully have the next chapter up soon. R&R please, or PM anytime your heart desires. Until next time:)**


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